Over the last few years, mobile technology has made some extraordinary advances. Things we could never have imagined have become a normal part of  our lives.

And it doesn’t stop there. Development continues apace and the future is bursting with exciting potential applications.

But while we are rightly excited about these future opportunities, it’s not all good news.

I feel that there is an ugly side to all this progress in mobile technology that sometimes has me lamenting the impact it is having on our behaviour.

I wonder if any of these scenarios ring true to you:

You are catching up with a friend for a coffee and a chat in a cafe when you spy two other people doing exactly the same at another table. Except they aren’t. They are technically at the same venue, but they are both on their mobiles. To me, this is the digital equivalent of looking over the shoulder of the person you are talking to at a party in case there is someone more interesting elsewhere.

Or maybe you are on a bus when the person behind you receives (and takes) a call and proceeds to talk loudly about their day and what they are doing tonight, thereby subjecting other passengers to the minutiae of their life, usually at high volume.

Perhaps you have entered a lift in the morning with a cheery “good morning” to the other lift inhabitants, only to discover that they have far more important mobile-based business to attend to during the 60 second lift journey and are thus unable to answer you.

Or maybe a client laments the fact that “they couldn’t get hold of you on your mobile”, despite that fact that it was in the evening and you were actually enjoying some non-work time with your family with your mobile safely turned off.

Or then again it could be you are giving a presentation and look out into the audience to see some attendees more intent on returning emails than in listening to the presentation in hand (which has probably been rearranged several times so that they can attend)

Any of these ring true to you? Any other examples I’ve overlooked?

Now I love my mobile as much as the next person and I’m not suggesting a return to a pre-mobile age of landlines, faxes and telexes (remember them?), but I am saying that mobile technology and good manners don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

Are you with me or am I just a lone voice in the wilderness?

Anyway, must dash now – just heard my phone bleeping.

I realised to my horror recently that it has been well over 12 months since my last post

How can this be? Blogs are supposed to be updated regularly aren’t they?

But I didn’t mean it to be so long. On many occasions over the last year I have intended to write a post only to get side-tracked

And the longer I go without writing one, the harder it becomes to break the cycle

Subconsciously, there is a feeling that after such a long hiatus, it will need to be a really good comeback post. Almost a Walkley award winner. And that pressure only serves to heighten the inertia.

In some ways, writing a blog is a bit like trying to lose weight or keep fit. We often start off a new regime full of good intentions, only to see the momentum start to slide away. And once the momentum is lost, it becomes mighty hard to start it up again

Extending that analogy, they reckon that the best chance of adopting a successful health/fitness regime is if you start off with modest expectations and it becomes a regular part of your lifestyle.

In my opinion, the same principles should apply to blogging…and indeed social media more broadly.

With so many different social media options available to us, the danger is that we flit from one to another, leaving behind a whole infrastructure of abandoned profiles, half-built pages, dormant feeds and neglected sets of ‘friends’

Maybe it is better to stick to a few channels and pay attention to them a bit more regularly. In the world of social media, there is much to be said for ‘little and often’. Which I will now adopt as my mantra for this blog

There we go. Wasn’t so bad was it? ……see you again soon(ish)

I’m trying to keep up with Social media. I really am.

Sure, I know it’s been several months since I last blogged here, but I have been a bit busy trying to integrate my company blog into our website along with full archives, another Twitter account, an RSS feed and a MailChimp list management programme. And ensuring that it all works seamlessly (which at least it did last time I checked).

Along the way, I have received my Google Wave invite, installed Buzz, established a new linked Gmail account, revisited MySpace and even Friends Reunited after a length hiatus. All the while regularly Tweeting, Facebooking and becoming ever more LinkedIn whilst considering whether Tweet Deck or HootSuite is superior.

I’ve rolled with Tumblr, stumbled across Stumbleupon and dug beneath the surface of Digg.

I’m exhausted! I have so many logins and passwords that I will soon need to upgrade my computer just to store them all.

But then along comes FourSquare – a location-based mobile application just about guaranteed to make you feel socially inadequate.

Positioned as a way to tell friends (followers? stalkers?) precisely which uber trendy spot you’re hangin’ at, presumably so that they can be suitably impressed and flock down to join you whereby you can bore each other talking about your latest App.

I considered joining up, but then had a think about what my entries over the last week might have looked like.

Lunch at Tropicana has a certain cachet and Sydney v Melbourne at the SFS hints at a sporty side, but beyond that…. “at my desk early again”…. “eating crisps at focus group rooms”……. “at the physio yet again”…. “picking the boys up from Daycare”…

Not sure I really want to let on that I’m not always the bar-hopping, cool dude that people may have taken me for. But maybe it’s a bit late for that.

Every so often we get to see a piece of communications that is original, clever, relevant, maybe amusing and totally engaging. Unfortunately, Toyota’s now infamous Yaris ‘Clean Getaways’ spot isn’t one of them.

It seems to have stirred the social media pot over the last few days with the usual vitriloic exchanges from the those brave, opinionated (but strangely anonymous) commentators on blog sites venting their spleens.

Indeed, some of the debate seems to question the role of social media itself, but  this misses the point. Social media campaigns can be extremely effective if done well, but at the end of the day, it is only another channel – the problem here is the message.

And that is where Yaris misses the mark in so many ways. It is neither original, clever, relevant, amusing or engaging.

It consists of a set of very poor double entendres (I’d say some are barely single entendres) that wouldn’t even be funny after a skinful of beer at a comedy club, let alone as part of a commercial message.

I don’t know exactly who the target audience is for Yaris, but I dare say females do play some role – so why alienate them quite so overtly?

I have no doubt that this spot was conceived and approved by blokes who are probably still amazed at the furore, trotting out defences like “chill out”, “no sense of humour” or “brave work” in their ostrich-like way.

Shame really, because the basic idea of the promotion was sound and Toyota should be applauded for trying something different. However some ‘old school’ concepts shouldn’t be left at the door. Like quality control.

Not sure quite what a feeling this will leave with potential purchasers, but I’d imagine that someone will be making a ‘clean getaway’ to a new job in 2010.

Let’s face it, there are some product categories which are complicated from the outset – insurance, mobile phones and ISPs are three that spring to mind immediately.

When venturing into these categories, people find it hard enough making comparisons in the first place, but the companies involved often seem to go out of their way to make things even harder for customers.

 Complicated inclusions and exclusions make any dreams of a level playing field a forlorn hope. 

Strangely, the companies involved often talk about their move towards transparency, plain-English communications and customer-focus before proceeding to do exactly the opposite.

Which brings me to the current campaign for AAPT.

I can almost see the brief now – “Unlimited” some genius in the agency suggests before everyone high fives each other with comments such as “Yes, that’s it”, “So simple, yet so true”, “That’s exactly what people want”, etc, etc.

Well excuse me for being harsh, but my understanding of the word “Unlimited”, which is backed up by the Oxford English Dictionary incidentally, is “not limited or restricted; infinite”.

Well, let’s put the AAPT campaign under the microscope for a moment shall we?

• Unlimited broadband 8am-8pm – aha, so it is not unlimited in the evenings when I will mainly be using it.
• Unlimited standard local and national calls – what about international calls and ‘non-standard’ calls? I also see (with the aid of a magnifying glass) that mobile calls are also not ‘unlimited’
• 24 month plan – hmmm, limited by the (no doubt complex) plan I have to commit to. Not much freedom there.
• EST/EDT ADSL areas only – here we go, limited geographically also.
• Speed reduced if you exceed your usage – great, now my fast speeds are also being limited.

So how do I feel having read this ad? – well let’s just say my inclination to shift to AAPT is somewhat limited.

Having worked in advertising agencies for many years, I have inevitably found myself adopting some of the industry’s oft-repeated mantras.

“Avoiding clutter” is one such beast, along with its close (print-based) cousin “the creative use of white space”.

And of course, this all makes a lot of sense in the complex and message-dominated world that we all inhabit.

However, what began as a necessary sales pitch to help flog the latest double page spread out of the creative department, soon became a personal obsession as I found myself striving for (and usually failing to achieve) a “clear desk policy”.

Furthermore, I found myself positively recoiling from anything with ‘retail overtones’, especially around xmas sales time.

But after extensive time in therapy I am delighted to report that I am now well on the way to making a full recovery.

So much so that I now feel able to reveal a guilty secret – I love JB Hi-Fi.

As retail environments go, it would be hard to find a more cluttered environment – well, you try getting up to the counter with a toddler in a stroller.

So why do they do it?

I read somewhere recently in SMH that it is part of a deliberate policy to imply that it is cheap – the stores look cheap ergo the customers think that the products must be cheap also, regardless of whether that is the case. Pretty cunning eh?

Works for me (but please don’t let me buddies in advertising know I said that)

One topic in the news quite a bit recently has been…well, the news.

As newspaper circulations continue to suffer around the world, we have seen a dramatic shift in the way people access and consume their news.

In a 24/7 world of up-to-the-minute online updates, the concept of waiting for the morning newspaper to find out what is happening somehow seems a bit quaint.

But where does this leave the world’s leading newspapers? Do they still have a role in this new world order?

As publishers struggle to redefine their business models in this rapidly changing landscape, we have seen two dramatically different approaches emerge.

First, we had Rupert Murdoch, foreshadowing plans to start charging for his online news content – his view being that consumers should pay for quality news, regardless of how they access it (and whether they have become accustomed to receiving it for free).

A worthy goal, but as someone said at the time, it is a bit like “installing a tollgate in the middle of the ocean”.

Now, last week we see Alexander Lebedev, majority owner of London’s iconic Evening Standard, announcing that he is dropping the cover price and becoming a free newspaper.

He plans to increase distribution from 250,000 to 600,000, presumably hoping that increased circulation will allow him to charge higher advertising rates.

So who has got it right? Only time will tell.

But one thing hopefully in their favour is that news will always be based on opinions and analysis as much as it is on reporting of the facts (besides, what are ‘the facts’ anyway?).

In that case, the news source becomes vitally important – consumers want to know that their news is coming from a place they can trust.

Would you rather read about world affairs from The New York Times or “Sean’s News”? Good though I may be, I think the NYT just has the edge.

And it is that level of trust that has always held the world’s leading mastheads in good stead and should continue to do so in the future, regardless of which business model they follow.

Which in my opinion is extremely good news.

Oh dear! oh dear! oh dear! 

There I am, innocently watching the AFL Grand Final when the first quarter ad break arrives and I first see it – Vegemite’s “announcement” ad, telling Australia that the wait is over and they have finally decided what to call their new Vegemite-and-cheese concoction.

As I watched, with my jaw steadily dropping  floorwards, my first thought is that this just has to be a joke – a massive, Superbowl-style wind-up. But here we are, two days later and sadly it seems that it isn’t a joke. They really did call their new product iSnack 2.0.

What were Kraft’s marketing folk thinking? Were Kraft’s marketing folk thinking?

It’s not clever, it’s not foody and if they really thought that this would endear them to a young, tech-savvy new audience then they must be even more out of touch than I thought. This is like Grandad getting a tattoo and thinking he can now run with the pack.

So where did it all go wrong?

Whilst I think the premise of getting consumers to do your NPD work for you is becoming a bit hackneyed these days, it did still provide an opportunity to capture the imagination – your chance to make a piece of true blue, dinky di, fair dinkum  Aussie history.

And if Kraft are to be believed, it certainly achieved that with an amazing 48,000 entries. 

But really Kraft, was there really nothing better among the other 47,999 alternatives? 

And what happened to quality control at your end therafter? Who approved it? Did you show it to any consumers? Were any Australians involved in the decision?

Vegemite is a classic Aussie brand, but right now people are laughing at it. Loudly.

The optimist in me hopes that Kraft (rapidly) recognise the error of their ways, and mount a charm offensive campaign to help offset the damage – handled with humour and intelligence, the brand could yet generate some goodwill out of this debacle.

But somehow, iDoubt it.

Despite having what was, in hindsight a relatively relaxed student schedule, it was often difficult to find the time (or application) to really get beneath the surface of a text.

Fortunately I discovered a study aid called Coles Notes which provided me with a distilled version of everything I needed to know. http://bit.ly/khnCY

Along with their cousins Brodies Notes and Cliffs Notes, these guides helped the time poor student get to the essence of the topic (and thus free up valuable extra time for socialising, drinking or maybe even a bit of work).

Once in the workforce, again I was faced with having to rapidly understand a load of unfathomable topics and with limited time to do so, what with the pressures of…. hang on a minute, socialising, drinking and maybe a bit of work.

Galloping to my rescue at this stage of my life came the Bluffers Guides http://bit.ly/MrvPx

Whether I needed to know about the latest marketing theory, understand a balance sheet or else just learn a bit more about opera in order to impress a date, I could be pretty sure there would be a Bluffers guide to lend a hand.

All of which is fine if you have a specific topic to bone up on, but what if you just want to feel generally, you know, ‘in touch’

Well, maybe that is where news and current affairs magazine The Week comes in. http://bit.ly/H9i39

Described as a ‘magpie magazine’ it has no pretentions of original content creation, instead, plundering all those who do and presenting it in a weekly digest of bite-sized pieces.

Domestic news, foreign news, politics, science, sport, culture… if you want to read (a short paragraph) about it, the odds are that The Week will have it covered.

Despite being criticised by the literati as offering nothing new, it has obviously read the market well

Here is Australia it is soon to celebrate its first birthday , but elsewhere its formula is proving highly successful

In the UK, it is the highest circulating subscriber weekly magazine (150,000 copies per week) and in the US last year it was the #1 magazine for circulation growth (selling over 500,000 copies each week).

And as for me, I am now more comfortable holding a (brief) conversation on just about anything.

This event was one of the lead items on the TV news and also generated strong coverage in the next day’s newspaper.

So what was it? Another gangland slaying? An AFL player getting in strife? Fair guesses, but no – it was the opening of a shop

Not just any shop mind you, but the eagerly awaited Australian debut of Costco, the American behemoth promising to deliver the “best possible prices on quality brand-name merchandise to its members” who pay $60 a year for the privilege of shopping there.

Now, I am all for retailers providing good value to their customers, but I find that there is something a bit vulgar reading about eager shoppers queuing up from 4.45am (armed with a thermos) in order to purchase ‘bulk packs’ of 80 toilet rolls or 184 nappies.

Not to mention the zeal that some of them show when talking about the place as this clip (scarily) illustrates: http://bit.ly/72cVd

Personally I’d rather spend a bit more for at least some kind of shopping ‘experience’ rather than wander around a warehouse whilst loading up my (oversized) trolley with large quantities of products that will clutter up my home for months (or years) to come.

It remains to be seen if Costco have timed their entry into the marketplace well to capture the post-GFC gestalt of frugality, or if people start to react against this bulk commoditisation approach in favour of something a bit more personal. 

That said, I am looking forward to the planned launch of their first Sydney store, not so I can visit it, but in the hope that it attracts  all the bargain hunters from my local Coles and thus allows me to saunter down the (now uncrowded) aisles in a state of greater serenity.

Now that is something I’d pay $60 a year for.