Marketers Studio - David Berkowitz's Marketing Blog

Google Base: Domination Plan Continues on Schedule

I've become rather passionate about the potential for Google Base. It's also fun seeing some predictions about where it's going unfold faster than expected. Note my previous column on Base compared with an excerpt from a MediaPost article that ran today.

MediaPost today: Google Base also created landing pages for employment listings that it receives via feeds from major job sites like CareerBuilder.com and LinkedIn.com. Previously, search results from those sites linked directly to those pages, whereas this week, they have begun linking to landing pages similar to those made for ads posted by individuals or small businesses.

My take on it (though with the excerpts rearranged for clarity): In the short term, there are many other beneficiaries in the Internet economy. Job postings refer back to sites like CareerBuilder. Listings for cars, recipes, and personals all link elsewhere... Base in its current form is the rising tide that lifts all sites... The moral here is that Google's doing the other online giants a favor right now, but over the long haul, Base will be a thorn in their side that could shed serious blood.

Ultimately, the base game-changer will be the much-anticipated Google Wallet, which will essentially be Google's version of PayPal. Thus, Google's gearing up to take on eBay in more ways than one.

Strike!: The Epilogue

In my MediaPost column this week, I ruminate on the strike (it was written while the strike unfolded; mercifully, it's now old news):

It's important to note the nature of this recent catastrophe versus others, such as Hurricane Katrina, the 9/11 attacks, and the tsunami and earthquake in Asia. With the transit strike, there was no relief effort, no one died, and most people affected by the strike live within a 60-mile radius of a single city. Granted, the city is an international hub for tourism and finance, so the wide interest is warranted, but this was hardly a life-or-death situation for the victims.

On that note, let's explore how this crisis unfolded in the search engines.

During the strike, advertisers across all search engines tended to fit into two categories: media properties covering the strike, and companies offering remote working solutions. As someone sitting in the middle of this stricken city, for me the ads were fairly relevant. I worked from home, only leaving to take photographs of the carpool checkpoints and stock up on groceries (veggie burgers, comfort food, and as much beer as I could carry).

More at MediaPost.

The Strike: Communications Report Card

The strike is over. We'd all go back to work, except everyone's on vacation.

Here's how the key players came off in communicating their messages:

Governor George Pataki: He tried to look tough for the cameras. But why was he in New Hampshire as the strike broke? He almost pretended to care. C+

Transit Workers Union Leader Roger Toussaint or Madame Toussaud or Robert Duvall: Let's see, he cost business owners hundreds of millions of dollars, made getting around town a royal pain for commuters and tourists, and waged a strike only to reneg a few days later without a single demand met. Even worse, despite all the time he's been in front of the cameras, no one even knows who his name is - except for the transit workers, who need to remember who to vote out of office next year. He gets an F. Even though he did point out a few flaws in the MTA's budgeting, the MTA actually looked pretty good next to this guy, and the MTA never looks good.

MTA: Okay, so what's this whole billion-dollar surplus about, and why are you completely mismanaging it? That's the one question the MTA has yet to answer, and Mayor Mike rightly acknowledged in one press conference that there's some fat the organization should trim. However, going up against Francois Truffaud, these guys looked downright saintly. They took no blame at all for the strike. A solid B.

Transit Workers: It's hard to look too good when the mayor and press point out you make more than teachers, police officers, and firefighters. And why exactly were they subjecting themselves to two days of docked pay for every day they were on strike? Okay, so it's a union thing. And these people were just pawns in the game. A few of them even broke picket lines. But they're also no better off than they were before the strike. At least we can be thankful for one thing: these aren't the people teaching our kids, or patroling the streets, or putting out fires. They did earn a modicum of pity, enough for a C-.

Mayor Mike Bloomberg: The guy never held back his emotion. He was disgusted, angry, and disappointed. He shared the pain of the small business owners and walked alongside commuters. Most amazingly, the city ran better than just about anyone would have expected. Still, he never came off as the hero. He didn't try. Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, in a brief moment of cheering commuters coming home across the Brooklyn Bridge, radiated more energy and charisma. Instead of playing the hero, Mike showed he can be something even greater: a human being. For his integrity and accomplishments, and for staying out of the picture during the points when he didn't have anything to contribute, he gets an A.

Day 2...

Mayor Mike in his address this afternoon keeps referring to the "selfish, illegal strike" and the "resilient New Yorkers." He rarely wavers from the phrasing. Here's a guy who knows how to stay on message.

The Strike and the Sim City Paradigm

Prediction: Mayor Mike will save us from the transit strike.

What does that have to do with marketing? Both sides of this issue, the Metropolitan Transit Authority and the Transport Workers Union, have come off looking repugnant. The MTA screwed up by announcing it had a $1 billion surplus, and then spending it on meaningless bonuses for riders that won't affect public transport use in the slightest. Meanwhile, the TWU wants an 8% raise for each of the next three years. Who the heck makes that kind of money guaranteed, short of people on Wall Street? And then calling the strike during the peak of holiday season, amidst shopping and partying and tourism and all those things that make living in this capitalist city great, doesn't win over many fans among commuters and business owners.

Bottom line: both sides failed miserably in communicating their ideas and marketing their messages. Each time I hear any of them speak, no matter who it is, I can't help but thinking, "You're an idiot." Though I will note that while the MTA comes off looking dumb, the TWU comes off looking dumb, shallow, and evil. Me, I'd rather be just plain dumb.

Meanwhile, there's the Sim City Paradigm that will soon kick in. It's something my long-time friend David Hirschl and I discovered while playing Sim City way back when, right around the dawn of VGA resolution. I think Hirschl first spotted it and I refined the maxim (fitting, in a sense... he's more technologist, I'm more marketer). The paradigm is as follows:

He who unleashes a disaster and then rebuilds is ever the more the hero.

You could be a master of urban planning in Sim City and see your ratings climb, maybe even to 70% or 80% if you're really good. But if you cause a disaster intentionally (eg, an earthquake, or you let a monster loose on the power plant) and then rebuild, your approval rating goes through the roof. Think George W. Bush post-9/11. Of course, with Bush, that was all a fluke, albeit a fluke that carried him into a second term. Barely.

Mayor Mike Bloomberg has been pretty quiet these days as the MTA and TWU keep looking worse and worse. Governor George Pataki, who has more authority over the MTA, also doesn't look too hot. I think Bloomberg could have done more earlier but didn't want to. I don't think he's all that evil or even a master schemer in that bad sense of the word, but the guy does have an ego (don't we all?), and I'd wager he thought, "If this strike happens, then I'll swoop in, pull some strings, head up the most impressive negotiation this city's ever seen, and then forever be the hero."

Bloomberg has been silent in the weeks leading up to the strike. I think he'll have quite a bit to take credit for when it's over. It's the Sim City Paradigm in action.

The New Rushkoff, Godin-Approved

Douglas Rushkoff has a new book out. Read it. Buy it. Book a flight just so you'll have six hours to set aside to read it. I've read some of his other opuses (or is it opi?) and he's at the very least thought provoking. More to the point, odds are you won't always agree with him, but you'll thank him for putting a new spin on things. Pick up Get Back in the Box here - I don't even get a commission for it.

As a bonus, it has the Seth Godin Seal of Approval: "Get your highlighters out! There’s a worldchanging idea on each and every page."

Though I think Seth could use some original book jacket quotes. Here's what he said about The Ten Faces of Innovation: "Essential reading for every single person in your organization--even the CEO should read it! Each page contains a nugget that's worth the price of the entire book. Wow."

What will be on each page of the next book he reviews?

Ten Faces was one of the best business books I've read. If the new Rushkoff is anywhere near as good as Ten Faces, then reading Get Back in the Box is time well spent.

Judaism Jumps the Shark

Members of the Tribe, our faith has jumped the shark.

Jon Stewart can get away with coining "Jewriffic." But with VH1's "So Jewtastic," Judaism runs the risk of getting thrown off the fad train as soon as another comes on board.

And when Judaism can become a fad, anything can.

Thanks to loyal reader Hirsch Fishman for the link.

Six Words You Never Want to See in a Headline

"Just in Case: Alternatives to [insert your product name here]"

The product in question: BlackBerry. The Washington Post penned a timely piece on what happens if legal issues force Research In Motion to unplug the service.

RIM offers updates on its site that are nearly unintelligible without a legal degree. An update consumers can understand would help.

The good news: most of RIM's customers aren't looking for BlackBerry alternatives. They're rooting for status quo. But RIM can do a better job of reassuring its base that all's on the up and up. If a mass customer exodus started to ensue, which is fathomable thanks to all the press along the lines of the WP article that has come out, RIM could take a short-term hit and offer a month's free service to keep its base at ease until the legal disputes pass.

Meanwhile, if I'm a competitor, I'm going on an acquisition feeding frenzy now. Bring on the direct mail, the search marketing, the all-out PR blitz. Now's the moment.

Happy Birthday Google Base, Part 2

In this week's MediaPost Search Insider column, I continued my musings on Google Base.

THE BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR GOOGLE Base--which I started in last week's column--deserves an extended celebration. Here are more observations on the service that's rewriting the rules of search.

Absence of History: Searches in Google Base don't appear saved in your personal search history when you're logged in to your Google account. Google only includes Web, image, and news searches in your personalized search history. Personally, I wouldn't mind Base's integration with personalized results; if I'm opting to sign in anyway, having some recollection of my Base searches would come in handy.

Keep reading at MediaPost. And you can find Part 1 here.