Digital Britain: Preliminary Report

On 17 October 2008, Lord Carter, the minister for communications, technology and broadcasting, began work on a report dubbed “Digital Britain”. The idea was to create an action plan that would secure the UK’s place ‘at the head’ of the new media age.  There is more about this action plan here and here.

Released today, the interim report outlines 22 specific actions, and in so doing commits the government too.  These are based on a range of topics including: Universal Connectivity, Original UK Content, Digital Content, Digital Radio, Digital TV, Mobile Wireless, and Next Generation Networks.

The Culture Secretary, Andy Burnham, outlines the report’s interim findings here (why are the parlimentary benches so empty?) and the BBC editorial team reports on some of the key points taken from the report here.

It seems feedback is mixed with the announcement of Broadband ‘in every home by 2012′ being called a ‘damp squib’ no less.  Potentially a tad party political perhaps, but IT industry analyst firm Ovum said the report was well-intended but “severely lacking in the detail.”  Ouch.

As the final version is due in June, one can only assume this will be even meatier – but for the keenest digerati the complete interim report is here (open’s 2MB .pdf) in its 81 page glory.  Enjoy.

How to clinch business deals

Get the right biscuits

(or if that fails check out the class of 2008: Design Week’s Top 100 Design Consultancies)

(or check out PR Weeks Top 40 Technology oriented PR consultancies)

Find your brand spam

I had an interesting email exchange with Seth Godin a few days ago – in response to this post.

During this brief exchange Seth wrote, “I hate email.”

It turns out one of my email replies went straight into his spam folder. And he felt awful a couple of days later, because having retrieved the item and having read my message, he knew he would have replied sooner – given the chance.

But Seth ‘hates email.’

Of course, in reality he might not. Seth hates ‘Spam’ and the effect it has had on his email use. And his reputation. So much so, that it might have made him say (and think) the wrong thing.

For B2b brands there is a lesson here. Someone somewhere might well be ‘hating’ your product or service due to something that you have no control of. The best B2b marketers will try their darn’dest to find the unrelated ‘Spam’ that messes or cloggs up their brand – and look to fix it.

As for email? It turns out the real Killer App (for productivity and collaboration) is actually Spam. What a shame. I am sure innovation pays a price.

Google your way to being wacky. Or pretentious?

You decide…..

Thanks Laura :-)

Mad Men in the UK

New to the UK and the BBC, Mad Men is a Golden Globe winning drama series set in the world of advertising in 1960s New York.  And with Emmy® Award-winning executive producer and writer of “The Sopranos” Matthew Weiner behind it, Mad Men really is the provocative drama that UK Marketing professionals should catch.

My advice is to cook a good meal, sit down with the wife, and watch it. ….under the pretence of course that the working day has ended…..When in actual fact you are thinking about the approach back in 1960′s, and how it applies (or doesn’t) in today’s era of multiple channels and a plethora of media types.

That’s what I did. Enjoyed it too.

What you are, what you want, what you love doesn’t matter. It’s all about how you sell it.

Manipulation of the media. Hell, that’s what I pay you for.

For UK viewers, it’s on iPlayer for another 4 days.

For the tech heads amongst you the throw away line to the newbie; “now try not to be overwhelmed by all this technology,” was just great.

Can someone help me though? What’s the difference between an Account Executive and a Creative Executive? lol.

Tales from the Inside: Niklas Zennström, founder Skype, Joost & Atomico Investments

Here is an opportunity for all you technology marketers to rub shoulders and ask questions of two technology heavyweights.

Second Chance Tuesday are chatting to the BBC’s Rory Cellan-Jones and Niklas Zennström, the latter who was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the year in 2006 and is one of Europe’s most successful technology, media and telecoms entrepreneurs.

When: 19 February 2008, 6.30pm to 9.30pm
Where: The Royal College of Physicians, 11 St Andrews Place, London NW1 4LE
Cost: £45, with a discount to £25 for entrepreneurs and is payable in advance.

For those of you who have been asleep for 5 years, Niklas Zenntröm is an Internet entrepreneur and co-founder of Atomico investments, Joost, Skype and Kazaa among other companies. Through Atomico, Niklas serves as a Board Member for several start-up companies, such as FON.

In his career to date, Niklas has won a series of industry awards including ‘Business Leader of the Year 2006’ (European Voice), ‘Innovation in Computing and Communications 2006’ (Economist Innovation Awards) and the ‘Wharton Infosys Business Transformation Award for Technology Change Agent of the Year 2006. Niklas has also been named ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ (European Business Leaders Awards 2006).

Rory Cellan-Jones is a journalist for BBC News. Starting out as a presenter at BBC Wales, he transferred to London and became the business and economics correspondent. After the dot com crash of 2000, he wrote the book Dot.bomb. Since January 2007, Cellan-Jones has been the BBC’s Technology Correspondent with the job of expanding the BBC’s coverage of new media and telecoms, and the cultural impact of the Internet.

Update 20/02/08:   BBC take on Zennstrom and the TV revolution here

If you are a networking freek, previous guests have included have attended from organisations like: 7Digital, ASOS, B3ta, Babble.net, Bebo, Betfair, BT, Buildersite.co.uk, The Cloud, Cominded, Crowdstorm, eBay, DTi, Endemol Gaming, Figleaves, Firebox, Freshminds, The Friday Project, Friends Reunited, Friends Abroad, Gala Coral, Glasses Direct, GNR, Google, Gumtree, Hitwise, Houses of Parliament, Imagini, Joost, iSporty, Ladbrokes eGaming, Last.fm, Lulu.com, Play.com, Match.com, MoveMe.com, Million Dollar Homepage, Microsoft, Ministry of Sound, Mofo Games, MOO, Monumental Games, Moreover, MTV, Mydeo, Myspace, News International, Nexagent, Oracle, Orderwork, Oxygen Games, Quikker, Paypal, Play.com, Reuters, Shopping.com, Shop Qwik, Skinkers, Skype, Snipperoo, Sony, Technovate, The Universal Music Group, Toptable, Yahoo!, The Young Foundation, Weeworld, Zopa, Zoomf, Zubka.

Typical investors have included : 3i, Atlas Ventures, Accel Partners, Advent Ventures, Atomico Investments, Benchmark, Battery Ventures, Close Ventures, Creative Capital Fund, Deutsche Bank, DFJ Esprit, Doughty Hanson Technology Investors, Episode 1, Fleming Private Equity, Goldman Sachs, IBIS Media, Index Ventures, Ingenious Ventures, London Seed Capital, London Technology Fund, Liberty Global Investors, Morgan Stanley, Nesta, New Media Spark, Mathematical Capital, Oxford Capital Partners, Seraphim Capital Fund

And of course the press has included: Angelnews, BBC TV and Radio, Business Week, Channel 4, City am, The Daily Express, The Evening Standard, The Financial Times, Fortune, The Guardian, ITN, Netimperative, New Media Age, The Observer, Sharp Edge, Silicon.com, Techcrunch, The Daily Telegraph, The Times and The Spectator.

I can’t make it, so I would really like to hear from anyone who attends.

Buzz word bingo

Regular readers will know I find buzz words and their overuse fascinating, hilarious – but essentially pretty pathetic.

The latest in UK office jargon has been revealed today, and I find it massively disconcerting that phrases like, “Time to throw in a thought grenade“, or “Little ‘r’ me” (Request for a private answer to an e-mail) are entering business vocabulary.

Is this really true? Surely not?

Come on! Please readers can you open up the kimono on the buzz words you hear? Not interested in buzz words? Feel free to raise the anchor and let this one drift.

Bonus Update 18/06/08: BBC’s 50 office-speak phrases you love to hate
Bonus Update 11/02/08: Seen this?

Bedtime alert

Can, or reschedule that late conference call, and don’t surf on your phone late at night.

Using a mobile phone before going to bed could stop you getting a decent night’s sleep, research suggests.

Typical.

It would explain my feelings of confusion at bedtime though.

Eight Business Technology Trends

Bruce discusses The McKinsey Quarterly and their “Eight Business Technology Trends To Watch” ;with a particular emphasis on those trends with an impact on Customer Experience.

As an aside “Business Technology” trends. There’s a phrase that won’t last too much longer.

n.b. 1: Bruce Temkin is Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research focusing on customer experience.

n.b. 2 : Don’t forget the BBC’s review of Technology Impact in 2007, now available in pictures too.