I do realize there was a storm coming to Philadelphia.. and it was a monster.. 27+ inches of snow reported at the airport.  My original flight, #979 was scheduled to leave 3:30ish on Saturday.. yes, towards the trailing end of this storm.   The night before, I checked flight status online – still running.  The morning of I checked, still running.  Checked again before leaving via telephone, still on-time.

I arrive at the airport at 1:45PM and approach the counter for the ticket. I was immediately told “No tickets” when I stepped up, before I even had the chance to present ID/Conf#/or flight number.  I said “I believe there is, as I just called and was told it’s still running…”  She continued to repeat “No Tickets” without ever looking up the flight number, or getting off her cell phone.  I asked for a supervisor to explain this to me.. She instead nodded for a TSA officer to come over and stare me down.   I asked “Are you the supervisor?” – and the USAir employee sternly stated “No Sir.  This is an officer.  I already told you, No Tickets. “   I again said I didn’t understand when both the sign, the website, and the call center are telling me the flight is going.  She said “You can call the call center for more information…”   I stepped out of line and got on the phone.

After a 20 minute wait for an agent, I again was told on the phone that my flight is confirmed and will be leaving on time.  The person on the phone said to tell the agent that the flight was infact running.  I was the next person in line, still on the phone with the agent.  As I was waiting to be called up to the counter, I asked the call-center rep if she would stay on the phone for a moment while I get confirmation from the counter… her snide reply was “We have over 400 calls on hold, we have to get to those.”  – You still haven’t solved my issue! How can you call this “closed” without solving my issue first?

I now went to a different ticket counter rep, and showed them my reservation number. They looked it up, and told me it was canceled.  Finally some progress… as she said it, the rep I was dealing with earlier shouted “That’s what I told him.”   The second rep suggested I call and find an alternative flight.

As I step away from the desk, my phone rings.  It’s a VERY courteous, friendly support rep saying she’s trying to be proactive about getting people the flights they need.  I explain the situation, she looks through all the available options, and books me on a following day (Sunday) morning 10AM flight.  She greatly apologizes for the confusion and inconvenience, and offers me an upgraded seat on the direct flight on Sunday morning.  While on the phone with her, I reapproach the desk (according to the phone reps instructions) and ask them to print the new ticket for me.  After some fumbling, I am holding a first class ticket for the 10AM flight.  I step away from the desk and the rep even offers to move my return flight back, to make up for the lost day.  I happily accept – she says she has no upgrades available on that flight as it’s booked solid at the moment, but to check closer to the date.  Great.

Now, the waiting game.  Keep in mind, SEPTA R1 (Regional Rail Line into Center City) has been suspended until 6AM, taxis are charging upwards of $100 to come out in the snow, and we are told by US Airways staff that new flights may become available at any time (so, frankly, it didn’t make sense to leave even if we could)

After some sitting around, Myself along with some friends I made while waiting, ask if they (the US Airways staff standing around talking on their cell phones) can suggest a place to spend the next 12 hours. (Cafe, lounge, etc)  As we were not yet into the new day, none of us would be allowed past security, and there are very few options on this side.  The response floored me: “If you want to stay here, you’ll have to stay outside. We’re closed”   WTF?  Really?  That is the suggestion from a US Airways EMPLOYEE!?!?   This group of people asking this question included some international arrivals who had very few options at this point.  I was absolutely stunned and went hunting for a place to spend the night.

Enter the Marriot… the Marriot is connected to the terminal, so I and some others quickly found refuge in there.  Comfortable chairs in a two-floor lobby made a good place to spend some time.. that combined with wifi (extra charge), and the ONLY restaurant on this side of security worked well for our needs.

Fast forward to midnight.  Suddenly a security guard with a look of distaste comes over and says we all need to leave.  She says the lobby needs to be cleared for the cleaning crew.  Two of the people blindly walk out…  I and two others stay and ask “It hasn’t been an issue all day… why now? where would you like us to go?” – again, very robotic, she says “You need to leave.. I have to clear this lobby.”   I ask again if she has a suggestion, she shrugs, and goes to wait by the door.   I gather my things and meet her at the door…  I ask once more if she has a suggestion, and she says “The GM does not want people staying in here.”… I suggest there are extenuating circumstances considering the weather, the severe delays, and the demand by US Airways staff to vacate the area.  She says it’s policy.  I asked “Is the GM here right now?” – she said “yes, I don’t know… why?” “Can you please call her? I’d like to speak to her about this.”  She steps away for a moment, and returns saying we can speak with the manager at the front desk.

Down to the front desk we go… After a moment, the manager (Keri I believe) appears.. We ask for a bit of compassion understanding that we’ve been spending money in the hotel all day, eating meals there, purchasing essentials from the gift shop, and even one of the three of us that stayed the previous night at $120/night.  We simply would like to remain in the lobby overnight as we wait for our flight…  she turns to the original security guard to ask HER what she wants to do.  I jump in asking “Why are you asking her?  Are you the manager or is she?”  she responds that she is, and they both disappear for a moment in the back.

When they return, the manager Keri comes around the desk and says “Sorry, nothing I can do.  It’s our policy.” I exclaim that lack of situational understanding and compassion is NOT part of the policy.” She then says “If we want to stay here, we will need to purchase a room for full rate.”  She goes on saying “If I let you stay in the lobby, then I have to let everyone that ever asks stay in the lobby.”   Frustrated, I ask her if she understands what kind of damage she’s doing to the Marriot Brand… a snide look from her, and away we go to the cold crossway tunnel.

With nowhere to lay down without being attacked by rats (Yep, I saw two) we are forced to remain awake throughout the evening, stuck in limbo between a closed Marriot, and a closed airport.  NOT feeling good about how ANYTHING is being handled while on this property so far.

Minutes later, I receive a voicemail saying my 10AM flight has been canceled.  Frustrated, I call back and speak to rep who rebooks me on a flight through Atlanta in the AM.  Minutes later, I decide to check the website flight status and find that the flight to Atlanta, has been canceled all evening.  The US AIRWAYS REP just booked me on a nonexistent flight.

I call back yet AGAIN and an obviously pissed-with-life rep answers.. I hear her in the background complaining about having to work overtime.  She then switched my flight to a Philly to Palm Beach flight, with a stopover in Charlotte leaving at 1:35 Sunday afternoon.  I asked about the first class upgrade I was given, she says she has it for the first leg, but not the second.  She says she doesn’t have the power to change it and I would need to speak to a manager.  I ask if there is one around, and she connects me with Donna, her supervisor.   Donna immediately starts with a ‘Let me tell you’ attitude… and says the upgrade was obviously a mistake because they NEVER give upgrades over the phone without points.  I explain that I received the first one over the phone, she holds strong and refuses to help, claiming that it’s impossible and if I have a problem, I can email the customer relations department and expect a response in 1-3 business days.

No sleep later, it’s 5AM and I head down to the ticket counter, frustrated beyond belief. The person at the front podium asks to see my existing ticket… I show it to her and she says I don’t need to wait, I can just go through security.  I asked if the flight was still on, and she said “Yes, all flights are now running.” – I asked her once more to confirm considering hours earlier I was told it was canceled.  She says yes.

After some coffee and relaxing in the Marriot 2nd floor, I decided to go through security.  First person checks the ticket, go ahead… 2nd and 3rd person side by side look, one signs off on it, go ahead.  I get through security and head to the gate, B11.  I arrive at B11 to find absolutely nothing…  I go hunting for a rep at ANY podium.   A friendly rep takes a minute with me to look it up.. her eyes widen saying “This flight was canceled… I’m not sure how you got past security?”  I nod in agreement with the ridiculousness of the situation, and she suggests heading to the end of terminal B where I can find customer service.

Great!  Here I go back down to customer service…  yet another angry human being behind the desk exclaims “Can I help you?”… I show her my ticket asking to know what flight im on.. she snaps back with “Just hold on.” and then tells me that flight has been canceled.   “Right, I realize… what’s the next flight I am able to get on to ANYWHERE in Florida…”  “8:30PM but it’s all sold out.” … “Okay, that doesn’t help me.. what happened to the earlier flight leaving around 1:35?”    A snappy “Yeah” and she insta-prints the tickets for what is the 953 flight to West Palm Beach, connecting in Charlotte.   I ask if I can still get my first class upgrade, and she again snaps with “You’ll get what we have.”    Unreal so far.

So now, I sit waiting at the gate…  I decide to call US Airways customer service a few moments ago to ask if I can move the first class upgrade to my return flight.  She says there’s no availability.  I then ask if the 2PM has availability and finally… a YES.  She then ruins it all by saying “You don’t have enough points here for the upgrade.”   I realize that, but my earlier flight was given a complimentary upgrade and considering I’m not using it for the way down, I’d like to apply it to my return trip… I don’t think it’s too much to ask after my nonstop back and forth.  She says “It was a mistake that you got it, and I don’t plan to make a mistake for you.”  she goes on saying “There is a note on the account that you are not able to get an upgrade from a past supervisor.” – I suspect Donna here.  She was the one who claimed there was no way they’ve ever given an upgrade over the phone.   The current rep then suggests I email customer relations if I have any issues.   I hung up in exhausted frustration.

So I’m sitting here, writing this, waiting for a flight, astonished with how poorly things have been handled…  I hope US Airways finds this “valuable” enough to read.

So… I AM emailing this blog post to US Airways customer relations.  I also am emailing this to Marriot International, perhaps as it’s own post.  I also have tweeted it out to 1600 people, and plan to at least three – five times more over the next week.

Let me make one thing very clear… the weather delaying planes was NEVER a problem.  The issues I had were with the way this was handled… no clear communication between staff/travelers, staff/call center, airline/call center, horrifying bad attitudes, complete inconsistency, and the “We’re doing YOU a favor” attitude.

I’m looking forward to seeing how US Airways and Marriot International reply to these…   In my next post, I’ll make some suggestions on how this could have been BETTER handled.

So do what you need to do US Airways – get in touch – Tweet me (@JosephD), email me: joseph@josephdepalma.com, or even call me.  I want to understand what your solution is, and I want to know BEFORE my return trip this Friday.

Regards,

Joseph DePalma
joseph@josephdepalma.com

As with most Philadelphia cabs, I expect to get into some ripped up crappy cab with a grumpy foreign driver, bluetooth in his ear, gabbing away in another language while blasting middle-eastern music through his treble-only speakers.

The other night was different… I got in to an immaculately cleaned back seat as the driver turned around to say “Good Evening” – He wasn’t on the phone and he had a tired, but genuine smile on his face.  I told him where I wanted to go, and then I noticed how nice this cab actually was.  He was playing a nice up-tempo jazz through working speakers, it smelled great, the temperature was perfect, and he didn’t feel the need to accelerate to 70MPH between every city block.

I couldn’t help but tell him how much I appreciated how well he kept his cab and the immediate-relaxation you get from the style of jazz he was playing. We then got into a brief discussion…  He expressed his frustration with most cab drivers in the city not understanding American culture and how important the quality of experience can be.  Sure we city dwellers deal with the shitty cabs and poor public transportation, but that’s simply because the bar is never raised and we’ve become used to it. We accept it as part of living in the city.  The driver went on to say how he tries harder in a hope to change the opinions of city cabs, which he hopes over the long term, will get the public to spend the few dollars to take a relaxing ride.

This might not seem amazing to most people, but he’s doing something remarkable.  He’s doing what he knows he can do to change the perceptions of cabs over the long term.  It’s not life changing to most people, but in his circle, he’s a pioneer; and if only for one trip, he changed my opinion of what cabs can be in Philadelphia.  There was no trick, no unsolicited spam, no screaming his message… he simply connected with his clients by showing his passion.  Passion can make you remarkable.

My biggest complaint:  Auto-DMs. These canned, cheesy direct messages are not only contrary to the personal, human interaction aspects of Twitter, but they also are marketers not updating with the times.  An unsolicited DM suggesting I click a link to earn $5000 instantly, or one that tells me the “Unknown secrets to getting 1000 followers/day” is just a shorter version of bulk email.  The response rate is super low, the interruption is still there, and yes, I still think you’re a donkey, even though you’re using Twitter to do it.

These “marketers” think they are using Twitter as they should…  They are experienced bulk-mailers, experienced email-spammers and comment-spammers who think just by being on Twitter, bulk following, and auto-DMing their canned message, they are “social media experts.”   It’s the same old dogs with the same stupid tricks.  Silly spammers, bulk-DMs are not the ‘wave of the future’, and no I don’t want to learn how to get 1000/followers per day, thanks.

My favorite spammers though have to be the new Twitter accounts with 13 followers, following 649 people, who’s bio reads “Social Media Expert!” with their photo of a 22 year old, half-naked blonde bombshell, and 97 tweets saying “Want to learn how to get 1000 followers per day?  Click here!” (oh, and ALL those tweets are from either a Twitter API or some other automated post.)

Oh, and if you’re using Auto-DMs just to say thanks for following? STOP.. It’s brutally fucking annoying.  I followed you, I probably also followed 20 other people at the same time.  I’m sure you’re happy, just as I’m happy to get new followers, but you don’t need to waste my time sending me a useless canned DM.  If you’re gonna send me a DM after I follow you, make it personal – Ask me a question, tell me a little more detail about what you do…Prove to me you are happy to have me following – not the sales pitch, but true genuine detail about your passion.  Make it real, make it personal!

The Other Issue:  Social Media Experts

Just because you’re unemployed and use Twitter doesn’t make you a social media expert. Just because you’ve mass followed 50k people and now have 50k followers doesn’t impress me.  How many of those are engaged followers?  And what kind of value could you POSSIBLY be bringing to those people?…  You rant on and on how you’re a social media expert and you can teach others how to be social media superstars, but you yourself have simply jumped on Twitter, created an unorganized following, only push your product, never engage and interact.  These are the same people that only two weeks before using Twitter we’re saying phrases like “Let me go play MySpace on the internets” or are still using AOL email addresses.

There are people who are social media experts, but they have backed it up by proving they can engage and interact.  They’ve done the research, some have written books, and most approach it with metrics and long-term brand value. They interact with their followers on a daily basis and never use canned responses. THOSE are the social media experts. Their passion shines though those 140 character messages.   They are REAL people… they are humans in the real world that can be charismatic beyond just the keyboard.

So there’s no more point to this post than to rant a bit… but keep in mind, if you’re DMing me with canned bullshit, I’m probably clicking “block and report spam” .  If you want to DM me for following you, at least use my name in the first DM… Twitter is about natural interaction, it’s about humans being able to engage and interact outside of their local networks.  Every time you log into Tweetdeck or Hootsuite or whatever you use, you’re stepping into the hottest party on earth – it’s always alive, there are always new people to meet, and if you use it intelligently, can be incredibly powerful.

… but what do I know… I’m no expert

I’m just happy Shel Israel finally posted proof of his associations to Snoop Dogg… He writes a great post about 5 answers to Twitter FAQs… I’ve bolded the parts below that suggest the Shel Israel/Snoop Dogg connection.

Those of us who spend significant percentages of our public time talking about Twitter and social media, often hear the same question voiced over and over again. It my seem redundant to us, but it makes overwhelmingly clear what the barriers are: what reason people have to not use Twitter.

On the short list of these questions is: “How can a message constrained to 140 characters possibly have value?”

It takes more than 140 characters to answer it.

First off, the question often reveals a traditional marketer’s mindset: How do I get a message out? How do I get people to buy my goods and services in a measly 140 characters.

The answer is that you don’t. Twitter does not work well as a one-directional message-sending tool. It is more like a telephone. One person speaks and another listens. The parties go back and forth. The person who started the conversation often finds greater value in what she or he is told, than in the brief words that initiated the conversation.

Second, Twitter is a business tool that is best used in conjunction with other social media tools. It’s advantages are that it is very fast for spreading ideas, information or just interesting thoughts. It is broad and shallow, while other tools such as blogs, podcasts or even wikis go much deeper.

… and here is where we begin to get a little fuzzy…

Let’s compare Twitter to a hammer.  Both are diverse in the ways you can use them. You can use a hammer to build a house or perhaps bludgeon a spouse. In either case using a saw to help you with the job will usually prove useful and productive.

That gets me to the third frequently asked set of questions: “Exactly what do I use the thing for?”

The answer they hate to hear is precisely the one I have to give: Use it for whatever you want to do with it. Twitter is not an application. It is a communications tool or platform. You can use Twitter in as many ways as a telephone or email.

Then there is the dreaded ROI question, the one that makes Twitter and social media champions roll their eyes toward the sky with Pavlovian consistency.

There are somethings that have clear value but are difficult to measure. For example, I have elected to wear pants at every face-to-face business meeting I’ve ever attended. I cannot think of any way to measure the value, but I know it’s there. I know in most cases the pants have greater value than say my wearing a skirt or no pants at all. Yes Mr Israel, we’ve all had those same thoughts during a long night of marijuana use… LOL

But I cannot give you the comparative ROI on the investment.

Nor can I quantify the value of a good telephone conversation; a customer whose problem got painlessly fixed by a support technician; a CEO spending five days of company tie and money to speak at an industry gathering; or a holiday donation to a homeless shelter.

Yes, there is a value to each of these things and somehow it translates to the bottom line. Yes, all things in business need to be measured to be understood and to scale. But more and more, measurement has become more complex.

When you understand what it is you want to do with Twitter, then you can find what it is you need to measure. Their are many tools and people who will help you.

And that brings me to the final and most difficult to answer of my frequently asked questions: “Why should I use Twitter.”

My blunt answer is: “Whatever you want.” Just like that hammer and phone.

I’m just messing with Shel Israel…  He’s a great guy and I’m a big fan of his writing, but poking fun at him occasionally doesn’t hurt

But… simply put, everyone is hyping up Google Wave and how it’s the “next big thing”… frankly, I can’t agree.  I think it will probably become a mainstream tool, but I find some funny issues with the above post about it.   I’ve copied them here, and put my notes in red..

Google Wave, on the other hand, is great for revealing what a group of people are thinking on a substantial level:

Like a document, you can put thoughts wherever they belong.  You can even modify a post, (YES, LIKE a DOCUMENT!.. A website perhaps?  a blog?… all these things allow the exact same functionality!)

Subtopics let you group thoughts, (Pages of topics on a website let you group thoughts!)

Since it’s a collective document, there’s no need for people to repeat each other,

You can post whatever length comment you want, (You can post whatever length you want on a blog, on a static webpage, etc)

You can include images, videos, maps, polls and all sorts of media in your wave.  There’ s also a wide and growing variety of extensions and gadgets (e.g. a translator for international events), and (This is really starting to sound like well… EVERYTHING ELSE ON THE INTERNET!)

It has an unlimited lifespan. (::cough:: ::cough::  Static web page, blog, wiki, etc?)

So maybe I’m just being picky. but I see the explanation of why Google Wave is so great to sound a LOT like almost ANY other basic website, wiki, or blog.  Does anyone else see this?    Yes I understand the instant-collaboration… but isn’t that all Google wave is?   Google just made it easier to drag-and-drop to your friends, colleagues, etc.

It will be great for businesses that want to work collaboratively in real-time, but they aren’t doing anything groundbreaking, they are just bringing together the tools we already use.  Other services do this, but because it’s Google, everyone salivates…   anyone else agree?

So, what’s it going to take to get to Emerald City?

I think we need to realize that there is just WAY too much information passing by us on Twitter and Facebook. Yes it’s nice that we’re all connected now and we can share information, but sifting through the unreal amount of posts and new info is becoming increasingly difficult.  I think Twitter and Facebook opened up the web for us, it allows us to connect to anyone, any time, and now the next step is organizing it.

I’m a big fan of Ning, and although Ning has been sitting quietly in the corner working on its technology, I think they’ve got the right idea and will be adopted more (again) in the near future.  They are simply providing a technology for conversation to take over… while Twitter is growing, the need to sort these #hashedideas into threadable conversation becomes significant.  Integrate Ning and Twitter, and voila, you’ve got a network completely around any given #hashtag.  The difficult Ning faces is integrating it so quietly into Twitter, that you never notice you left the public conversation.   It’s essentially like finding the long tail of twitter conversations…

Lists were a great start for Twitter, and certainly a step in the right direction, but there needs to be more. I used to wake up, check email, and then go to sites and google reader.  Now I wake up, I check Twitter for updates I want, @ replies, and DMs, and THEN check email.  This might not seem significant, but obviously my interest has changed to joining a new conversation more than waiting for one to get to me via email.  I want it to get to the point where I ONLY need to check Twitter, or one app, and everything works together to deliver me the information I want, allow me to jump into new conversations, and most importantly, connect with new people and find new opportunities.

My other wishes for social media?

I wish I could let a business know I’m coming on minutes before I arrive there, have the things I want waiting when I get there..  I wish it was easier to find any given business on Twitter, and immediately reply to them about my recent experience.  I definitely want deals offered mainly thru Twitter, because of the urgency that can be created…  I want location-based tweeting to be more ubiquitous and have it be a way to meet new people locally… I want to pay for things via twitter and have receipts automatically emailed to me and archived… I want to be able to find a job easily using predefined hashtags that tie into “related” tags…   and really? I want businesses to really listen to Twitter and stop being so stubborn.  It’s not a “fad” – its the way society is shifting… we’re more into doing things for people, then finding the money trail.  Give people what they want, and the money will follow.

We’ll get there, but this is only the beginning… this “new” media is now old… and it’s time for the next stages to develop.  The grand plan is the same – customers control the world… but the tools need to be used more effectively to make that happen.

Grabbed the tickets and went to enter the Perelman Theater.  Waiting in only a short line and I watch the interaction in front of me.  Lady hands her tickets to an Usher who is now face to face with her.  Usher says “Your seats are to the right.” and the lady enters, and goes to her right.  The usher says “Excuse me, but I said to the right”… lady says “this is my right”… usher says “uhh, MY right!” and points.   Whatever, just a stupid way to give directions..  I’m next (now fully understanding this ushers point of reference) and she says “to the right…” – I jokingly point the other direction and say “that way, right?” with a smile…   she gives me the look of death and points in the other direction.   A+ for sense of humor huh…

As I was finding my seat and holding my phone in my hand (just carrying it at my side) I was told by a new Usher (this guy was on the 2nd floor) that phones are not allowed in here, and I would need to put it away.  No problem, I simply assume he means when the show begins. Keep in mind, this was roughly 7:45PM or so, and there was a decent roar in the room from people coming in and no real order to the room yet.

As I sat, I clicked the button on the top of my iPhone to check the time and wooooosh, just like that the Gestapo Usher was right up my ass.  He re-informed me quite sternly that phones are not allowed in here and I would need to step outside.  I said “I’m simply checking the time, I don’t intend to use it.” and he rebutted with “It doesn’t matter, the light… like a fly I saw the light and came over.”… at the same time, he informed my date that her left foot needs to move back from the railing. (I should add, her foot wasn’t up on the railing.. it was on the floor, but the point of her shoe was touching the rail)

Regardless, I was not impressed by this point… had it not been for the cocktails prior, I would have probably been more frustrated at the time.

As it got closer to 8PM, I watched Gestapo Usher fly in on everyone who even considered using a cell phone, and even more so on those who’s feet, or even knees, came close to touching the railing.  He would actually enter one of the rows and inconvenience everyone else to inform someone sitting in the middle that her feet need to not touch the rail.  It was pretty frustrating to watch…

THEN….THEN came the real winner…  A ‘larger’ women with a crutch walks in and is looking for her seat.  The Gestapo Usher points her to a seat approximately 4 people deep, in a very tight row.  She obviously would have difficulty sitting there, and says she can’t take that seat and is going to take one of the empty chairs off to the side.  Gestapo says “I’m sorry, you have to take the seat you were assigned.” she calmly explains that the seat is too tight and difficult to get to, and Gestapos response? “Ma’am, if you want a different seat you’ll need to go [back downstairs and outside] to the ticket booth and request a different ticket”

Seriously Gestapo?  She obviously has difficulty walking, the stairs weren’t exactly cake for her, you’re really going to make her go all the way downstairs when the show isn’t even remotely sold out?  That’s just unreal…  It really put a bad taste in my mouth for the quality of service of what is supposed to be a ‘prime entertainment venue’.  Even patrons who were pushing 65 years old were mentioning the difficulty of the usher.  I overheard one say to the person next to him “careful, if your feet touch the railing the usher will come castrate you.”    Come on… when you’re pissing off that age bracket, there has to be something wrong.

Otherwise, although a bit creepy towards the end, the performance itself was enjoyable…  If I were judging just based on the venue and performance, I’d certainly go back – It was relaxing in that sense.  I’ll just be sure to have a few drinks prior to going, this way I don’t care nearly as much about the kindergarten style service I’ll get.

Other ski resorts need to adopt this model if they want to stay cool (no-pun-intended).

Imagine the next step of this…  Not only can you have a conversation with the resort, but you can be informed of cheap lift tickets ahead of time, you can know up-to-the minute snow reports…  you can then be riding up the 5 – 10 minute lift rides, reading active twitter updates on which runs were just freshly groomed, which just opened, etc.  Ready for lunch? Pull out your phone and see today’s menu’s for on-mountain dining. Finish lunch and check to see the wait-times at lifts.  Done for the day?  Check out which ski-in lodge is holding the best happy hour and share it with your ski buddies immediately. Integrate and RFID tag into the season passes… just imagine the possibilities.

So much opportunity for ski resorts… I wish Killington & Pico in Vermont would begin to use this – it would make it much more appealing to stay on the East Coast instead of traveling out west.  In fact, I wish I could implement this all for Killington & Pico so I could spend some days actually skiing this year!

I’ve been thinking about the future of advertising a lot lately. Specifically, how things are going to change over the next few years; I figured I’d post some of my thoughts on it:

Companies will need to embrace their own core values and focus on building a remarkably customer-centric brand by 2008, or they will face a significant uphill battle.

So, why 2008? It’s somewhat approximate, but here’s the reason: A huge barrage of ads started in 1990. We starting seeing the Internet in it’s early stages, magazines were becoming more ads than content, television became the advertising mecca, etc. Well, people born in 1990, will be turning 18 in 2008. At 18, you’re officially an adult… you have technical free-range to buy what you wish. (Granted, I understand the shopping starts before that, but I feel these 18 year olds are the start to this new culture)

Anyway, these 18 year olds have been inundated with traditional advertising (print, TV, radio, etc) since they were born, they are used to them, they are skeptical of them, and they know how to block them out. Many of them have experienced more non traditional advertising like product placement, sponsorships, etc, and have blocked them out too. This is where many companies will run into a problem; a huge market to reach, but traditional advertising isn’t cutting it.

So, to repeat myself from before, the companies that will survive and thrive, will be the ones who have built a solid customer-centric, and fractal brand by 2008. Advertising won’t be controlled by the companies, it will be controlled by society. Look at social circles- they have grown tremendously over the past 100 years- word spreads amazingly fast, and unless your brand is built solid and can handle it, you’re going to be last year’s news.

I really do believe we’re coming along a major cultural shift in advertising. I’m not sure exactly how it will pan out, but I’m pretty sure we’ll see some big changes.

If there weren’t competition in an industry, there wouldn’t be a market. So, when you’re thinking about ideas, DO NOT plan your business by looking at your competition. Plan your business by using your mind and your own resources. Think about what you and other people would want as customers of your new business and build from there.

Only after you have created your business from the ground up, avoiding the influence of what’s already there, THEN look towards the existing market; what can be improved, what could be added, etc.

The reason for this method is twofold:

1) Finding competition when you first think up an idea can be disheartening, and you may start to make cloudy judgment calls when you feel inundated with competitors.

2) When you form your idea based on your competition, you’re confined to the strengths and weaknesses of them, and are only building on what they have already created. If you work from scratch, you are essentially inventing the industry, and it gives you the opportunity to be even more outstanding.

Mind you, I’m not suggesting ignoring competition, but looking at it only after you have built your own foundation. Otherwise, you’re trusting your foundation to your competitors, which definitely isn’t a good idea.

Bottom line here: Ideas are a dime a dozen, so don’t be stuck on using other peoples ideas. Industries are created by people that start from a clean slate and build their imagination from there. If you want to make it happen, you need to use your uniqueness, not blend in with the rest.