On what was a pretty normal and sedate work day, a colleague from work brought in a bottle of old-style Pop Shoppe pop (soda to those of you south of the border) , which has recently been resurrected from the graveyard of the 80’s. What struck me as interesting was the excitement that the return of this product inspired in my colleagues. It was almost as if they regressed to childhood in front of my eyes, swaddled in oversized adult clothing as they marvelled at the bottle. You would almost think it was the Coke bottle from The Gods Must be Crazy. Read more »

Ok so it’s 2008, and we’ll let you in on a little secret, we kind of dropped the ball last year. Okay, we didn’t “kind of” drop the ball, we dropped it, and then it rolled under the rug. We turned into one of “those” blogs, you know, the ones that only get updated as often as the weather forecast gets it right.

So in the spirit of the new year, we resolved to do better (I know, I know, resolutions don’t work) and after some discussion, we looked back on what we did right, and what we did wrong, and have a new plan as to how we are going to keep things rolling in 2008, without just relying on good faith in our resolution. By sharing our blogging schedule with you, we’re putting it everything on the line that we’re actually going to post on a regular basis. Here’s what you can expect from Crowdspark in 2008:

• regular posts every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday covering marketing, customer service and user experience, engaging business models, strategies, and frameworks;
• a monthly in-depth Feature on a concept, company, or product/service.
• penetrating analysis and god like insight(ok, that might be bit much but one can only hope)

We’re already busy working on what we think will be really interesting features, and once again invite you to share your stories, experiences and comments with us in 2008.

If there’s anything you think we should be covering, please let us know in the comments or by using the Contact form.

Shingi & Chris

For something to be exciting, to become viral or sought out by others; it has to be unleashed by a positive and sincere enthusiasm from the creator and her internal community who give life to it. [Read More]

I was just having another look at the now infamous Does What happens in the Facebook stay in the Facebook presentation and it got me thinking about online privacy and what a paradox it is. Anything online is easily reproduced and propagated by virtue of the internet being digital and omnipresent in nature. It is therefore a medium which is fundamentally at odds with the idea of privacy because the preservation of privacy requires the existence of informational silos which limit said information from spreading too far.

The idea that the real world concept of these “contextual silos” which prevent information from spreading very far beyond it’s original context could be transferable to the web is flawed because digital information is ubiquitous. Anything on the web can potentially be seen by anyone, anywhere at anytime, whereas in real life a night of say, alcohol fueled revelry, would only be witnessed by people present at the event and would be known to only so many people outside those that were present. Furthermore, the internet is a repository of digital memories as opposed to human memories and so not only is nothing ever Read more »

The business plan is sorely in need of reinvention. Much like fortune telling, it continues to be an elaborate, ritualistic and time-honored exercise in pre-cognition. The whole thing is about as reliable as a stock tip overheard at a racetrack.

It’s such a meaningless exercise in terms of the depth bankers and investors want from these plans. There’s no crystal ball to assure the future, but they want you to make it look that way. Not to say that there is no value to a business plan, because that would be overstating the case. A business plan is a good exercise in strategic planning that is useful in bringing considerations to the forefront, which might otherwise become nasty future surprises.

However, it’s definitely high time that we had second-generation business plans, business plan 2.0 if you will. Above all, the most important thing is Read more »

ian writes:

“I recently tried to add an additional bank account to my ING Direct Savings account, by sending them a cheque for decently sized chunk of money. After confirming that the cheque had been cashed, I call them to find that they cannot deposit the cheque into my savings account because my bank told them it was tied to a line of credit account.”"Line of credit? I don’t have one of those. It’s a regular everyday chequing account.”

“I would suggest calling your bank and sorting this out, and then calling us back.”

Read more »

PR giant Edelman asks Hugh MacLeod of Gaping Void to give a talk on the reality of corporate blogging in a post-Cluetrain Manifesto era. A very insightful piece that is well worth reading.

I remember endless hours of my youth spent playing Monoploy, gleefully bankrupting friends and relatives alike while I had visions of being the next Trump. I always wondered what playing the game would feel like if those colorful pieces of Monoploy money were real instead. Now a new venture out of Montreal called Weblo promises to fulfill my childhood longings.

Weblo is hoping to strike it rich by staking its claim in the cyber gold rush to build and populate virtual worlds and massively multi player online games (MMOG’s). Hoping to cash in on the same trend that has turned Second Life and World of War Craft into the phenomena that they are, Weblo has created a virtual world that is essentially a carbon copy of the real world.

Read more »

Seeing as conference and trade show season is upon us, I thought it appropriate to share some of my favorite “killer” trade show tips. Here are 10 great trade show tips we’ve come across that are sure to make your organization stand out at that next trade show. What are some of your favorite tips? Let us know in the comments.

1. Market your trade show exhibition.
   Depending on your budget allocation, market to target customers before the trade show. Use a short clear direct mail/email piece letting target companies know your company will be exhibiting, what the booth number is, where your booth is physically located at the show and what their benefits will be if they stop by your booth. Even better, send out personalized email invitations and get responses on who will be attending and who won’t.
2. Establish a Gender Balance in Your Booth
   Some people may feel more comfortable approaching your booth if it’s not just full of one gender. It mixes things up, and allows visitors to your exhibit to choose to relate on different levels. How often have you seen a booth full of all men, arms folded, and ready to hit you with their carefully rehearsed sales pitch? It doesn’t work for them and it won’t work for you.



3. Stay put.
   Make sure there’s always someone manning your exhibit. If you absolutely need to leave, make sure you have someone to cover for you. You can always wander around in the early morning before trade show delegates arrive, or later after everyone leaves.

Read more »

The time-tested saying “The customer is always right” is pretty standard - but what about those times when they’re not.