im-media-te impact by Brian Reich

09:26 am | 0 recommendations | 6 comments

Innovation: Age of Conversation

(Author Note: This post is partly about innovation, and partly about shameless self promotion)

Today marks the official release of Age of Conversation.

What is Age of Conversation? It is a precedent setting collaborative book-writing effort between 100+ bloggers and other new media types. It is a model for how information will be produced and shared in the future. Oh yeah, and its a book - something you can go online today and buy (with all proceeds going to charity) and get creative insights from the best minds in the new media space.

There is more information online at www.ageofconversation.com.

Keep reading for a little background on how it all came together:

On March 27, 2007, Drew McLellan, who heads McLellan Marketing Group (an ad shop) posted on his blog about a chance to author a guest book. Gavin Heaton, who is the Interactive Director at Creata, then posted a comment hailing the idea but going one better in saying, “Great concept! But you know, what? I reckon between a few of us [marketing bloggers] we could knock out a short book…all we need is a theme and a charity.”

Two weeks later, Drew and Gavin had amassed a theme, pinpointed a charity and made a grand call for authors.

I was one of the authors who responded and I was honored to be accepted into the group. Each of us (103 in all) was given one page to express their perspective on the concept 'Age of Conversation' any way they see fit. My chapter, which amounts to one page really, is listed as No. 80 in the table of contents, and is entitled 'Putting Media Back in the Middle." It's a brief intro to some of the themes that you will get in my book, 'Media Rules!" which will be published by Wiley in November.

All our collective thinking is now available in eBook, softcover and hardcover formats…with all proceeds benefiting Variety, The Children's Charity.

Again, there is more information online at www.ageofconversation.com.

Being a part of this was both an enjoyable experience and a thrill -- knowing that we were trying something new and that the lessons learned from Age of Conversation will start to impact the way marketers communicate online. The only way that we can advance the level of understanding of people in and around the marketing space about the potential for new media is to band together and pool our thoughts. Age of Conversation proves that co-creation and collaboration are alive and well, and can have dramatic and important impacts.

Many/all thanks go to Gavin and Drew for their leadership and investment, of both time and resources, to get this off the ground. I encourage you to go buy a copy (or several) and invite others to do the same.

08:11 am | 0 recommendations | 4 comments

Leadership: Giving 100%, 100% of the time

Is it possible to give 100% of your effort, energy and focus to your job, 100% of the time? Is it a good idea? And if it is a good idea, for how long can you reasonably keep up that level of activity?

That question is on my mind a lot today.

Yesterday, in a somewhat stunning announcement, Seattle Mariners manager, Mike Hargrove, announced that he was resigning his post. This was shocking on two fronts: first, the major league baseball season is in full swing - we haven't even reached the figurative halfway point of the season, the All-Start Break. And second, the Mariners are the hottest team in baseball, riding an eight game winning streak to a position within spitting distance of leads in both the AL West and Wild Card races.

What was he thinking?

The Seattle Times quotes Hargrove saying "I don't expect people to understand it. I really don't. Because there's times I don't understand it. But I ask everyone to respect it."

More from the Times:

Though Hargrove dismissed the term "burnout," calling it "a crutch," the explanation of his current mind-set seemed to contain several of the classic elements of burnout.

The M's news release announcing Hargrove's resignation quoted him saying, "I can not continue to do this job if my passion has begun to fade." But he bristled at a question about his loss of passion.

"I haven't lost any fire for this, passion for it, whatever you want to call it," he said.

But Hargrove said it was getting increasingly hard to summon that passion.

"I have never had to work at getting that out of myself, ever, until recently," he said. "I found I had to work harder at giving that same commitment to my bosses, and to my players and my coaches.

"That's not right. They deserve better. They're good people. There's a good thing going on here. And it's time for me to leave."

As a Mariners fan, I am torn. I never thought Hargrove was the right manager for this team. When the team was mired in a long losing streak earlier in the season, I hoped that the management would wise up and fire him. But of late, the Mariners have been playing some of the best baseball in the league, and some of the best baseball the franchise has seen this century, so it was hard to argue with his performance of late.

I am also personally and professionally torn. Of late, I too have been waking up in the morning and finding it harder to summon the passion for my work that I had just a few years ago. Since I was 15 years old (I am now 29), I have worked almost non-stop in a variety of fields: as a professional political operative (on more than a dozen campaigns), a speechwriter, as Briefing Director for Vice President Al Gore in the White House and during the 2000 campaign, I have run my own straetgic consulting practice, and for the past five years, I have been an internet strategist. most recently for a leading brand marketing and communications agency. I have worked on some of the biggest, most intense projects you can imagine. The longest vacation I have taken was for my honeymoon, just shy of two weeks back in 2003. And, most mornings and many weekends are devoted to the pursuit of excellence in my work.

I think the concept of burnout is a crutch as well, so let's skip that line of thinking. Don't talk to me about balance either -- I actually do better than you think. There is always room for improvement, but I have learned over time, for the most part, to leave a lot of work at work or just focus on the other aspects of my life when I want/need to. Besides, we all know its not about the time that I spend at home with my wife (who is also pregnant with our first child) or with friends and family. It's not about the time I/we take to go on vacation (we use up all our allotted days each year). There is something else that is causing this feeling and no amount of time away from the office, or focused on other things, seems to make it go away.

So back to my questions: Is it possible to give 100% of your effort, energy and focus to your job, 100% of the time? Is it a good idea? And if it is a good idea, for how long can you reasonably keep up that level of activity?

On the first question, I think the answer is yes. It is possible to give 100% of your effort, energy and focus to your job, 100% of the time -- when you are at work. I believe I do that every day. On the second question, for me the answer is also yes. Not only do I think giving your all is a good idea, I think it is necessary. Don't mail it in, not even a little -- its not fair to your clients, your colleagues, or the work you do. And don't save yourself for something that might come up in the future -- as if performing slightly below excellent on this proposal or that project will somehow make itself up on the next one. Nobody wins in that scenario either.

The third question is where I am still unsure. I have given 100% of my energy, focus, and attention to everything I do at work for the past 14 years, since I began working. I don't know any other way -- and I don't want to know any other way. At the same time, as I find it harder and harder to muster the passion for my job, for work in general, I find myself placing the blame on myself, as if something is wrong with me for not wanting to push as hard as I used to. Am I doing something wrong by putting in all that time and energy? Is my job not worth it? I don't like that feeling, I don't want to feel bad about myself because I don't have as much emotional energy to put towards my job as I once did. I'm excited about all the other aspects of my life, so how do I summon the same passion for work?

My work hasn't suffered at this point, I don't believe, and I will surely stop work - as Mike Hargrove chose to - before it gets to that point. My question to you is this: when do I know I have reached that point? What do I do then? I can't quit my job and not earn a salary - I have responsibilities to my family among other things. I don't want to quit my job, only to go searching for another job and find the same challenges there.

Does anyone else share my thinking on this? Does anyone have a suggestion?

06:03 am | 0 recommendations | 3 comments

My Case for the iPhone

The iPhone will go on sale June 29th. That leaves you approximately three weeks to convince your VP of Technology (or similar) to invest in one for you to use at work. I put a very quick memo together last week to my VP of technology and thought I would share the salient points with you.

Keep in mind, my arguments (below) are designed to convince my office to invest in iPhones as additional devices, not replacements for our Treo/MotorolaQ/Blackberry devices that people already have and use widely.

Here you go:

Reasons why our company should be purchasing iPhones:

1) We must be familiar with the leading edge communications/marketing technologies in the marketplace..

My agency helps its clients leverage the communications opportunities created by technology to enhance their brand, promote their causes/issues, enhance their reputation and respond (or prevent) crises. Because the audience is more connected, diverse, and sophisticated than ever before, we must find new and different techniques to be effective in reaching and engaging people around a product launch, important issue, or timely opportunity. One of the key elements to this is continually investing in the new, groundbreaking technologies that are definining the marketing and public relations space.

2) The iPhone will help us to expand our client service and create new new business opportunities.

One of the key areas of our new media strategic offering is in the mobile space. Sales of the iPhone are projected to hit 4 million in the first year, approximately 6% of the consumer cell phone audience, making it one of the biggest launches in history. Teenagers in particular, are expected to purchase the iPhone as their primary communications device. We has several existing client relationships where one of the target audiences will likely include iPhone adopters and our understanding of how to use it, along with our understanding of how to integrate mobile opportunities more generally (which already exists), will expand our capabilities. Similarly, our ability to demonstrate and understanding of how to use the iPhone to expand campaign efforts will create new business opportunities and differentiate us from the competition.

3) We should be adopting the Apple design/communications sensibility....

Apple has always been a leader in the new media space. Their product and software design, as well as their marketing are innovative and highly regarded by audiences and advertisers alike. With the iPhone, Apple has done what many phone manufacturers have not been able to do, and that's to make user interface practical, something you can figure out how to use just by looking at it, not by reading some stupid manual. To remain competitive, on the creative and new media fronts, we must recognize the influence that Apple has on the audience and advertising communities and work to understand the key elements of their sensibility.

4) It will help to expand our thought leadership opportunities...

The iPhone will get significant coverage and attention in the year(s) to come. Creating an opportunity for our company to become an authority on the potential uses for the iPhone in the context of new media and public relations will create thought leadership opportunities for the agency. We will be able to propose articles, panels, and similar.

5) It is a good investment...

The iPhone represents three devices in one: a cell phone, a wide-screen iPod with touch controls, and an Internet communications device. It will introduce a variety of new widget functionalities, camera and video capabilities, etc. We will be able to use it for functional communications, experimentation and learning, and presentations. The investment will pay huge dividends over time.

These arguments aren't particularly sophisticated -- my goal was to relate them to the goals of my agency. Have you made the case to your company to invest in the iPhone yet? What arguments did you make? Anything you can add to my arguments, so I can make an even stronger case over the next several weeks?

Direct of New Media, Cone Inc. • Boston, MA • breich@coneinc.com • www.coneinc.com

06:12 am | 0 recommendations | 3 comments

Summer Vacation

The Tuesday after Memorial Day marks the unofficial beginning of summer. Congratulations! You made it! For the next three months you have permission to take it easy, slack off a bit, let your deadlines slide. Don't worry, everyone does it.

For many companies, summer hours are now in effect. Everyone is encouraged to leave the office around mid-day on Fridays. Go ahead, start your weekend early. That forty hour week thing, really it's only the Americans who observe it anyway.

Corporate outings are now going to take place at the ballpark, on the beach, or near a softball field. Don't worry - the client won't read that document until Monday anyway. Make sure to buy enough hot dogs for the grill before you arrive!

White shoes are now fashionably appropriate. Ok, that may not have a huge impact on business, or work/life balance, but it could if you really think about it. Wearing shorts to the office may be taking it too far, even during the summer, but just about anything else goes.

And don't forget to put your planned vacation time into the company schedule. We need to make sure and have appropriate coverage for all our projects. I don't know what appropriate coverage means, but it sounds like a good idea.

Don't get me wrong, I like summer. I think everyone deserves to take it easy from time to time -- detox from their work schedule with some time near the pool, or driving to our nation's monuments. And I will take my share of long weekends, vacation days, and other time off during June, July and August.

But, do we have to sacrifice an entire quarter to the sun gods? Do warmer temperatures give us permission to do less work?

Frankly, I feel pressure from my colleagues not to check out early. They walk by my office in the afternoon and say that I should enjoy it "while I can." Don't they know that there are Vitamin-D deficient clients out there also who expect us to be available when they call? Haven't they realized that there are huge deadlines in the coming weeks/months that would seem less daunting if we all pitched in?

I spent all Memorial Day working on a couple of deliverables. My wife did the same for her work. We would have much rather been outside, swimming with your nieces, at a ballgame, or enjoying a barbecue with friends. But we had work to do and a federally-mandated day-off wasn't going to change that. Self-designated holidays don't change that either.

Summer is great. The weather is inviting. The baseball season is in full swing. And there isn't much good television on right now anyway. So you should absolutely get outside, enjoy yourself. I just hope you remember that when you do, that there is also work that needs to get done and there are other people on the hook when you take off.

09:10 am | 0 recommendations | 3 comments

When is it Appropriate to Celebrate?

I fly several times a month for work. This week I flew from Boston to Los Angeles and back, via New York/Connecticut. Next week I will fly from Boston to Austin, then on to San Francisco and back. While I would love to fly on just one airline and get into a routine, it never quite works out -- so I see a lot of different terminals, use a lot of different carriers. I have seen the best and the worst of the airline industry.

Yesterday, while flying from Boston to Los Angeles, I had an interesting experience. The head flight attendant came over the PA system and announced that they had champagne on board -- get this, to celebrate their airline's emergence from bankruptcy a week earlier. Apparently to mark the occasion they had served all (of age) passengers with bubbly, toasting their own good fortune, and had some left-overs if anyone was interested.

Is celebrating emergence from bankruptcy an appropriate thing for an airline to do?

Part of me thinks they should absolutely celebrate. After nearly going out of business, this airline had changed its leadership, restructured its finances, and put itself on a course towards success. That is no small accomplishment.

At the same time, their fares have gone way up (it cost me over $500 to fly to/from Los Angeles -- and that is with nearly a month of lead time to book the ticket), their services have fallen off (we got a free snack and soda/juice on our flight, but no meal option) and their staff... booking agents, gate staff, some (not all) flight attendants, and even pilots... are not really going the extra mile to make my flight comfortable.

If they could find a way to bring those things in order, those would be major accomplishments. I love to fly, but my enjoyment of the flying experience is not what it once was. Fixing those things would be reason to celebrate.

Direct of New Media, Cone Inc. • Boston, MA • breich@coneinc.com • www.coneinc.com

01:13 am | 0 recommendations | 2 comments

Are Business Books Useless?

I handed in the first draft manuscript of a book that I have written about the future of media and communications to my editor last week.

The day after I sent everything off, I read this post from Seth Godin:

Every year, more than a thousand new 'business' books get published in the US. Not textbooks or manuals, but general interest books about how to do business better. Some sell a few hundred copies. Some sell a few hundred thousand. One or two might sell a million. Out of a potential audience of 30 or 40 million white collar workers in the US.

He goes on to talk about how most business books are useless -- except for his own of course -- and that the conversation about how to be successful in business needs to change.

Are all business books useless?

My book is a business book, but not that kind of business book -- you know, the "73 things every person must do to succeed" type of book. I deliberately stopped short of making specific recommendations for how someone should market or manage their organization. Why? I don’t know who is reading the book. I don’t know what their audience looks like. I don’t know what they are trying to accomplish. I want someone to read my book and get value out of it, but the best thing I can do is help them to think not tell them how to act.

What do you look for in a business book? What business books have you read lately that were particularly helpful to you?

My hope is that my book, when it comes out in November, will start of a conversation about how organizations can truly leverage new media to better serve their audience. But I can't have a conversation by myself. So, as I think about how to promote the book, make the information accessible to people, and make myself available to debate and discuss my arguments, I'm curious what you think I should do. What would be helpful? What would compel you to read my book, over all the other business books that will be released at the same time?

I'm interested to hear. Leave a comment or drop me an email when you get a chance. Thanks.

Direct of New Media, Cone Inc. • Boston, MA • breich@coneinc.com • www.coneinc.com

04:35 am | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

The Day After Yesterday, Now What

The environment is hot right now (no pun intended).

In the days and weeks leading up to Earth Day, businesses of all shapes and sizes jumped on the environmental bandwagon. Home Depot announced a line of environmentally friendly products and handed out a million energy efficient lightbulbs to customers for free over the weekend. Television networks and movie studios are rolling out green-themed storylines in their new shows this fall. The media got into the game as well with dozens of magazines publishing green issues and institutions like The Washington Post and National Geographic launching unique “green” content sites (the Washington Post's new site, for example, is http://sprig.com).

And that is just the tip of the iceberg (again, no pun intended)

Consumers are demanding these changes and are willing to take action at the check out counter if it is necessary. According to research released last week by Cone Inc (full disclosure: I am the Director of New Media for Cone) "Americans are calling on companies to be proactive in their day-to-day operations when it comes to the environment" and solid majorities support meaningful company actions including:

- Reducing pollution through office and manufacturing operations- 71%
- Designing products/packaging with more environmentally-friendly contents and minimal packaging- 69%
- Distributing and transporting products more efficiently- 69%
- Communicating environmental efforts to consumers and employees so each group can support those efforts- 62%
- Donating money to environmental causes- 59%
- Lobbying for environmentally-friendly policies- 57%

It is still unclear whether companies who are launching these initiatives are doing so becasue they are truly concerned about the impact they are having on the environment or because there is a huge market opportunity in this space. I am less concerned about the motivation driving corporate action in the green space than I am about the actions themselves. It would be nice if the global business community really was in it for the right reasons - and many are - but it is enough for me that they are starting to take action.

But how organizations approach 'going green' is an important. The companies that helped start this movement in the business community have been largely driven by a core vision and philosophy that is about their place in the world community, not the financial return they will receive. They happen to have been successful, and made a lot of money in many cases, but changing the way business operates and how consumers act has always been their core focus and it will remain their primary motivation. As new entrants flood into this space (again, no pun intended), they are bringing their old-school business models and marketing plans -- talking about all the good work they are doing, but still clinging to many of their old practices and old ways of thinking. I have no doubt that the commitments they are making now are genuine, but whether they will actually be able to change, or end up paying lip service in the interest of selling product down the line, is a big question still.

There are a lot of things about the way businesses operate today that need to change. The push towards a more environmentally friendly business community has finally gone mainstream, with businesses and consumers, so the stage is set for a radical transformation. Let's just try to make sure all the announcements and pledges of action are real and commit, as a community to doing it right.

Direct of New Media, Cone Inc. • Boston, MA • breich@coneinc.com • www.coneinc.com

12:15 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

Change the Baseball Schedule

Five of the fifteen games on the major league baseball schedule today are rained out (so far). A week ago, the Seattle Mariners and Cleveland Indians had a four-game series snowed out. And according to Billy-Ball, a daily rundown of baseball stats and analysis, "There have been 32 games this season in which the temperature has been below 45 for the first pitch. This is more than three times the total for the entire 2006 season (10)."

With Earth Day just a week away the issue of climate change is on nearly everyone's mind. But this post is not about the environment. I am not here to preach about global warming, its causes, or science in general. No, this is a post about how sports, and Major League Baseball in particular, need to consider changes to their schedule and the way they operate -- or risk becoming victims of our changing climate.

The sports world needs a little bit of innovative thinking.

Regardless of what you think about cilmate change or its root causes, it is hard to ignore the issue completely. Virtually every industry is scrambling to assess the cost that climate change will have on their operations while also trying to develop green products to capitalize on a growing market opportunity -- and that extends all the way down the supply chain. The entertainment community has joined forces with Al Gore to organize Live Earth, a massive seven-continent concert to raise awareness and mobilize action around the issue (full disclosure: I am working with one of the groups involved in planning the concerts - The Alliance for Climate Protection). And the media is doing is part, putting the environment on the cover of nearly every magazine this month from Time to Vanity Fair to Elle.

And what about the sports world? Sports Illustrated wrote in March about the impacts that global climate change are already having on sports:

All of which is changing the way we play and the sports we watch. Evidence is everywhere of a future hurtling toward us faster than scientists forecasted even a few years ago. Searing heat is turning that rite of passage of Texas high school football, the August two-a-day, into a one-at-night, while at the game's highest level the Miami Dolphins, once famous for sweating players into shape, have thrown in the soggy towel and built a climate-controlled practice bubble. Even the baseball bat as we know it is in peril, and final scores and outcomes of plays may be altered too.

The article highlighted some of the innovative green building techniques and similar that sports franchises around the world are beginning to employ, like solar power or water filtration and re-use systems for keeping grass fields growing with less water. But there are even more obvious things to consider. The Masters this past week had one of the highest cumulative scores in the history of the golf tournament, due in large part to cold temperatures and high winds (unusual for this time of year in August, GA). What would happen if the whole golf season was pushed back by a couple of weeks? If you had to choose between putting a ballgame in Cleveland in early April, or in Seattle, with a retractable roof stadium to protect you from the elements, which would you choose? What would happen if you had teams with domes, or who played in warm environs, host the first month's worth of games allowing the temperatures in cities like Chicago, Boston, and New York to warm up some before starting the seasons there?

Larry Stone quoted a scheduler in the Seattle Times this morning, noting that "The schedule is not one team, or one piece. It's a 30-team, 26-week puzzle. They play almost every day, and you have to account for all the concerns — travel, the Basic Agreement, the national network, the local networks. It's a massive puzzle."

I know that scheduling a 162-game season is not easy, but something has to be done. Baseball clearly needs some innovative thinking to solve this problem. Anyone have an idea?

Direct of New Media, Cone Inc. • Boston, MA • breich@coneinc.com • www.coneinc.com

05:06 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

A Pitch for Innovation

Go read today's New York Times article about Pat Venditte.

Who is he? He is the only ambidextrous pitcher in NCAA Division 1 college baseball. I also think he is a metaphor for how organizations should hire and train their staff.

A little excerpt from the article:

The pitch was nothing remarkable: Pat Venditte, Creighton University’s temporarily right-handed pitcher, threw a fastball past a Northern Iowa batter for a called strike three. It was his next windup that evinced this young pitcher’s uniqueness and, perhaps, professional future.

As his teammates whipped the ball around the infield, Venditte smoothly, unthinkingly, removed his custom glove from his left hand and slipped it on his right. Moments later he leaned back, threw a strike left-handed to the next batter, and finished the side in order.

...

Venditte is smoothly proficient from both sides. His deliveries are not mirror images of each other: as a right-hander he throws over the top and relatively hard, up to 91 miles an hour, with a tumbling curveball; as a left-hander, he relies on a whip-like sidearm delivery and a biting slider.

Organizations operate a lot like baseball teams. On a ballclub, teams have players specialized in every position. Nobody is more specialized than the closer -- the relief pitcher brought into pitch one inning, maybe fifteen pitches max, and preserve a win for his ballclub. In an organization, the manager is always looking for someone to fill a specific need, maybe its a role understanding some new technology or a particular expertise with a client or partner.

The problem is, that pitcher is only good in the ninth inning and if they need him to stay in for another inning, he might not be able to pitch again for days. He is great when he is on, but his capabilities are pretty limited. Similarly, when that specialized employee runs out of things to do, or when another employee needs help with something, the specialist may not have much to offer.

The ambidextrous pitcher is the ultimate closer. He wasn't born that way -- he learned how to throw a baseball effectively from each side. So, if you follow the logic, organizations should go out and hire, or train, people to be able to pitch from both sides.

Direct of New Media, Cone Inc. • Boston, MA • breich@coneinc.com • www.coneinc.com

05:52 am | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

Letting Sports Information Spread

This is one of the great weeks of the sports year. Monday marked the opening of the Major League Baseball season and the finale of NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. Tonight the women will crown their own NCAA basketball champion. And Thursday, in Augusta, Georgia, the best golfers in the world will tee off for the the first major tournament of the year, The Masters.

Online sports reporting and discussion is big business -- fantasy sports leagues are a $1.5 billion business that is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years. And, thousands of sports blogs and other sites are buzzing around the clock with debates about everything from wins and losses to trades and scandals. But all is not well in the world of sports.

The New York Times reported this morning that the Pan American Games, an Olympic-style multi-sport event held every four years between competitors from all nations of the Americas, was banning blogging. This is the latest in a growing trend where the governing bodies for athletic competition around the world impose strict curbs on the flow of information online.

The reason: money.

Sports organizations have two options in responding to the growing influence of technology in the media space -- they can hold their ground, cling to control, and hope that the world fan base will be satisfied with what they are given (in dribs and drabs separated by lots of commercials). Or, they can recognize that the sports experience is only enhanced by a free-flow of information and work instead to support the millions of athletes and fans to spread the gospel of sports.

Which do you think they will choose? A quote from this morning's article:

“There’s a natural trend among sports organizations to expand their territory,” said Jens Sejer Andersen, director of Play the Game, a nonprofit sports ethics research group in Denmark. “This is normal for any business that tries to expand its control of the market. But it goes to the core of the functioning of the independent media in our society. The danger is that no real discussion about events on and off the sports field can take place, reducing us to millions of passive sports-consuming robots.”

We are seeing this fight play out in several industries right now - music and movies/tv chief among them. The smaller, independent shops are using the internet and other technology aggressively to spread their work and making inroads among fans. The big studios, meanwhile, are resisting change after enjoying huge financial benefits under the old model. In sports, the alignment is similar: The major leagues are clamping down, while the lesser-known sports are embracing new distribution channels (The Times noted as an example that "The America’s Cup sailing match, which starts April 16 in Valencia, Spain, for instance, attracts less television coverage than some international events. It does not restrict blogging and allows liberal use of still photos; a maximum of three pictures a minute can appear online. The Volvo Ocean Race last year actually required its sailors to blog.") But even the biggest of studios and labels are starting to realize there are other options -- note the announcement by EMI yesterday that they would offer up their catalog of songs DRM-free through iTunes.

The major sports leagues and competitions should find and embrace a new model, distribute information widely, and find other, more innovative ways to make money than simply controlling access. I think they will see a long-term benefit that far outweighs anything the strict controls in the short-term will provide them.