The Ever-Changing Internet.

Congratulations! I think it’s safe to conclude that we’ve arrived at the age of the internet. We made it everyone. We’ve entered an historic point in history.

Connected like never before via Facebook and Twitter (among other platforms), today, people from around the world enjoy up-to-the-minute information about each other, and the world around us.

The speed at which social media (for instance) has been accepted is staggering. Given the benefit of hindsight, it all seems pretty natural to us now, almost obvious. I’m probably not the only one to curse Mark Zuckerberg for figuring it out first.

Though we’ve come to understand that the online world is characterised by ‘change’, (the only really reliable constant in any discussion of the internet), there remain some interesting clashes between this new epoch and some of the more fundamental and fixed aspects of human nature.

Expecting ‘change’ and rapid adaptation in the wake of the cyber revolution as we have, there remains resistance to change. Even in this period of tremendous and almost ubiquitous change, there is still resistance.

A noteworthy American activist and author once noted that “in times of profound change, the learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”[1]

Wise words to be sure, but the key word here is “learners”. We are not all “learners”…or more accurately, not all of us are enthusiastic about becoming learners.

Many of us are not all inclined toward change. Some fear it out-right where others procrastinate until it can’t be avoided any more. In either case, in an era dominated by change, where it is pervasive, it still has not made us cheerleaders for change.

For a perfect example of this, look no further than Facebook. I find it amusing that every time changes are made to the facebook format people get angry! I have always thought there is a certain irony to forming a protest page on facebook to voice ones discontent about facebook, but I digress.

Seemingly without fail, when changes are made to the format of faceboook, it’s only a matter of seconds before users start to declare war on the social network utility. I even had one belly aching friend threaten to do all her social networking on Google+ instead.

Here is a quasi-scientific experiment to illustrate my point. I just entered the following phrase “recent changes to facebook format”. Of the ten search hits on the first page, a total of six are negative. Some headlines include “Facebook changes look – and everyone HATES new ticker.” Another reads “STOP changing the format” and my personal favourite “I hate the new facebook format and want to change back.”

I think I understand this reaction in a way. For some it seems that as soon we get used to one thing, another jumps in to replace it, taking with it any sense of permanence. But is permanence all its cracked up to be?

Examples of the consequences of resistance to change are all around us. We need look not further than Netscape which was revolutionary in the 90’s and is today little more than a footnote. We can add to this list Napster and Myspace. It is worth noting that all of these extinctions occurred in the past 10 years.

Despite this decidedly human suspicion of change, change is important. In most cases it’s the only thing we have. We know that change in organizations is common. The best advice is that it is better to learn to cope with change and to hone the skills that will help us for a lifetime.

We must adapt and learn to embrace change. Digging in your heels is not going to work in a modern age. Old ways are not always the best ways of doing things. And after all, it hasn’t taken us long to get used to new facebook has it?

Change is an inevitable part of life and your organization will inevitably be faced with it. Being flexible and adaptable, and viewing change as an exciting challenge is not only good, it is vital.

Alexander Graham Bell once claimed, “When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” This is the trap that threatens to ensnare us. The sooner we accept this logic the better positioned we’ll be to thrive.  

[1] Eric Hoffer, American social writer.

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Budgeting for your needs!

Ah, pasta! The world’s gift to cheapskates in need of a hot meal!

Anyone who has ever been to university will tell you that if you want to get that degree, you’d better acquire a taste for pasta. Words of wisdom to be sure.

Yes, that’s right. A successful student is a good budgeter, and a good budgeter will inevitably discover the financial rewards of pasta.

I can recall going to ‘dinner parties’ while in university consisting of 6 courses of pasta dishes. If you were lucky the host may have invited a particularly creative person who would bring something potato based too! Sweet money-saving, life-sustaining, carbohydrate sustenance. Though bleak sounding, at the time it all seemed so natural. We were all poor, and it was just sort of the norm so no one seemed to mind that much.

There were of course times when the money was available (like when student loans came in) and when I had enough to afford better quality food. Sadly however it always seemed like a much better idea to spend it on a box of cheap merlot or discounted beer, or used books dealing with classical Greek and Roman literature purchased in the mistaken belief that you actually had an interest in this topic and that they’d be read some day. Point being, even with the occasional injection of unaccounted for cash, it was still only a matter of weeks before you were back on the pasta budget.

So what are we driving at here. Well, the lesson is that we all need a proper budget. If a person is to reach their target there must be an appropriate budget. Luckily for most university students, the goal is pretty straight forward, stay alive long enough to graduate. In this case pasta will do nicely.

But what about bigger goals? What if bigger things need to be achieved? What’s the saying - you can’t buy a Bentley on a Hyundai budget. This is to say that sometimes you are going to need a bigger budget if higher aspirations are involved.

There are some iron clad laws of the universe, and like the rules governing the physical world, there are certain rules that govern business as well. You can get something cheaply but you may not get it quickly at the same time. Or to put it differently, you can have it quickly, but it won’t be cheap. Then of course there is the added variable of quality that needs to be considered.

At Blue Ocean Interactive we want to save you money where possible, but won’t sacrifice the campaign - we will meet your needs by investing our time, energy and expertise. But we will also help you develop better quality campaigns over the long run. As our relationship with your business develops, we will build on the work we’ve already achieved together. When your business is ready to put on the polish, we’re there for you to straighten your tie, snap your collar and give your company the look essential to success. As your project matures, we’ll help you every step of the way to give you the professional glow you can afford, when you can afford it.

When you’re ready to take that next step and trade in your pasta dinner for a little caviar, our team at Blue Ocean Interactive Marketing is here to help!

Visit our website at http://www.blueoceanyyc.com

Facebook: my most trusted marketing source.

Like many of you, I spend most of my life on Facebook. There are some nights when I go to bed giddy about the day to come, when I will, after performing my morning rituals, open up Facebook and get butterflies. A new day has come and another information buffet presents itself to me. 

And I don’t hurry. Oh no! I take my time about it. I savour every post, comment and message. 

First things first, I open it up and see what my friends are telling me to think about stuff. Because my friends and I share many of the same interests, Facebook has become the most reliable source for new websites, articles, blogs and all around check-out worthy stuff. If I know and trust the opinion of the friend posting a link for instance, I can take comfort in the fact that it’ll be cool in some way. If I know that the person posting a link has a certain political, moral or artistic proclivity, there is no guess work involved. Just pure, peer-reviewed internet treasures.

In a way I guess you could say that my Facebook friends triage the internet for me. They make it bite size.

When reading things others have posted, or, say, following a Youtube link, I consider the sender and how clever they are, I muse over their motivation for sending the post they have. I think about my degree of affection for the person sharing something. This is how I check the validity of the post. I trust certain senders over others and in a way my feeling about the sender will mirror the feeling I’ll have about their posts.

I’ve come to view Facebook as a kind of local community newspaper. The journalists for this imagined newspaper are of course my friends. They are mostly people I know or people whose friends I know. 

But there is a hidden dimension that I also need to tell you about.

People always say Facebook is a great way to stay in touch with friends and to stay apprised of collective interpersonal gossip blah, blah, blah; that it’s a great way to be introduced to music, clothes, TV shows, books, memes etc. All this is true of course but its been said a million times. I don’t even own a TV anymore! Really. But in addition to these trustworthy friends, I have made a point of ‘friending’ acquaintances and a bunch of enemies (I suppose the term “frenemies” sums it up well). These are people I kind of know (and at times kind of dislike). I keep them around on Facebook so that I can firstly get to know them better by lurking around on their interests and also so that I can quietly hate on their interests and confirm my suspicions about how superior I am.

This is sort of the dark side of New Social Media marketing. It’s like anti-marketing in a way. When someone writes something like “ Dude, just got Air Supply’s Greatest Hits, its killer” I have all the info I need; I can let the hatred boil up for both the person posting and the product.

So what’s the point of all of this, I will mercifully arrive at it now. The thing is that Facebook has totally supplanted most forms of marketing for me. If I haven’t come into contact with something, it’s because no one is posting about it.  If the internet were a massive lottery, Facebook would be the score card. I am not checking anything out unless it gets a checkmark from someone I like and/or hate. The second point is that without a friend endorsement a media saturated generation of passive consumers won’t pay as much attention.

On a final note, I remember the days when Mark Zuckeberg had not yet opened Facebook to advertisers. Now it’s a bit cluttered with ads on the side bars. In my lifetime, I may have clicked on three of these ads. Point being, friends give the internet creditability, and in an odd way, so do enemies.

View our website at http://www.blueoceanyyc.com

Good Planning

History offers some good examples of plans coming together but what if…

Every year, millions of tourists make the pilgrimage to Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel in Rome. Would we flock to this masterpiece if the artist had, oh I don’t know, lets say ordered the ceiling tiles from Ikea? Would we marvel at his skill in wielding those tiny twirl key things or wonder at how he managed to beat those small wooden pegs into the particleboard holes using little more than a rolled up newspaper?

How many of us would climb Machu Pichu in Peru if we knew that once at the top we’d discover a vast city made out of tents, more reminiscent of the camp ground at an outdoor summer festival than a wonder of the human ingenuity and architecture prowess the site represents today? 

Where would we be if the visionaries at Giza, who upon considering an appropriate method to honour their dead Pharaohs had decided they’d just wing it and see what happens?

Two small truths in life never seem to wear out and always bear repeating. Firstly, there is no substitute for good planning.

Allow us to share with you a poignant example of our philosophy summarized well in a story book most of us can relate to, Alice in Wonderland:

“Would you tell me which way I ought to go from here?” asked Alice.

“That depends a good deal on where you want to get,” said the Cat.

“I really don’t care where” replied Alice.

“Then it doesn’t much matter which way you go,” said the Cat.[1]

At Blueocean Interactive we know that quality work begins with a solid foundation and that good planning, shapes good decision making.

To do truly worthwhile work, there are a number of elements that need to come together. One needs a vision to be sure. One needs time, and it goes without saying that there needs to be a lot hard work involved. But the best resource of all is of course - planning.

‘Good planning’ is not to be confused with a ‘concrete plan’. Good planning involves expecting the unexpected and adapting to new demands.

The second of the truths we find persuasive at Blue Ocean is Albert Einstein’s wisdom that insanity can be defined as doing things the same way repeatedly while expecting different results. We would also add that this serves also as good definition of boredom too.  

In addition to good planning we know that to stand out in a crowd we need to do things differently. Nothing extraordinary has ever been achieved by copying the next guy or by waiting to see what’s hot in a few months. That’s why we’ve adopted the principle that the best way to predict the future, rather than speculating about it, is to create it.

One of the ways we do this is to include our people in the process. We believe that the talent and skill of our team combined with their input and inspiration are crucial to getting you, our client, the right product and to ensuring that we can take pride in their work.

By creating a relationship between out talent and our clients, our team has the freedom to explore their ideas together with you until we all get it right.

The best plans and ideas rarely exist in plain sight. By facing up to this we get to work with a variety of rule bending approaches. Our doors are open to you and all our clients have access to our skills. By giving everyone a chance to contribute, we have built a reputation for quality and creativity that have brought so many of our clients back to Blue Ocean.

For more information, please visit us online at BLUEOCEANINTERACTIVE.COM or call contact us at (403) 455-1658

[1] - Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865), novelist and poet (1832-1898).

Wide-Screen Design

In the early phase of web design everything seemed to be “boxed in” and designed for the smaller monitor in mind. Today wide screen monitors are becoming the norm and why not get with times! When I first started to learn how to design for the web I’d always have to keep in mind that if I designed my sites wider then 800px then I was going to get a horizontal scroll bar across the bottom and that was a big no no! Now when I’m creating I go big or go home because you can offer so much more in terms of user experience with interesting designs that adapt to the width of the users screen. That being said of course I keep in mind the smaller resolution users out there as I design so they end up seeing the bare minimum but the more the resolution is increased the more playing field is shown.

A great example of a wide screen resolution design is from my Sensei and Blue Ocean Creative Art Director Sean Jenkins for our client Andrew Brash which can be seen here. In this example the “outside the box” design really took the simplicity of the layout and gave the users some eye candy with a beautiful wide-screen shot which reveals more of the mountains the larger the screen resolution of the user is.

-Dustin Peter
Web/Graphic Designer
Blue Ocean Interactive Media

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