I think, like beauty, the eye of the beholder matters greatly. Perhaps why we look at this issue through different colored glasses.

Anyhow, I thought it was out of my mind… then I saw the Budweiser deal in the news last night, bought by InBev of Belgium… I’m a Bud man myself… after the news ended, there was a Bud commercial on, ending with the tagline “A Great American Lager”… and I thought of your thread here… again.

Now I’m thinking about how ephemeral and fragile it can be… strange that a foundational type characteristic can also be those things… another dichotomy… buggers are everywhere!

Did it ever “feel” right and natural as if it was meant to be like this? If your initial instinct tells you “NO”, then you already made a good start.

The rest will follow, if you keep on that track.

Bad habits are persistent and hard to get rid off, but they are usually easy to detect, which makes them much easier to tackle, if you really want to do it.

That’s how I see it.

http://www.brianoberkirch.com/2008/07/09/a-little-less-conversation/

Sam

Innovation trumps invention in existing market spaces and industries. Innovation by definition leads to an increase in value, whether it is revenue, customer service or authenticity. Trust me that I am a huge fan of invention, but from a B2B or B2C market perspective, the companies that can innovate will the the companies to work with and for.

We have recently started using new methods to reach into our customer base to insure higher levels of communication and provide the ability for our customers to make real-time decision and to increase value. We are instituting a social social media strategy to extend our reach, and to be available where the customer is as opposed to making them come to us. We are finalizing the development of a blog supporting knowledge transfer to the community, and we are using channels like Twitter, Facebook and others to increase the connections to affiliates and advertisers.

It has been interesting to see the almost immediate response from the communities to our efforts. I am looking forward to exploring other forms of innovation with regard to our CRM efforts. In a time when consumer-inspired initiatives are at an all-time high, its great to have our ears to the ground where the customers roam.

As a final note, if you will be in Boston at the Affiliate Summit East, I would like to invite you to continue the conversation re: authenticity in an interview with us at Relevantly Speaking. You can reach me by email if interested. I look forward to more postings from you.

Perhaps dichotomy is too strong a word for my next observation, because mutually exclusive would be going overboard… but…

When I read techno-babble, lexicon 2.0 if you will, it screams inauthentic to me…

“crowdsourcing”, really?

Maybe I’m just too fuddy duddy for all you young hipsters.

Sticking with the opposites theme… an unquote from Jerry Maguire for you…

You lost me at crowdsourcing.

Mark