Get a Top-Quality Professional Logo for Yourself or Your Company for $200 (USD)

People who read this blog often (thank you) will know that I am a member of many online communities. I do that because it is a good place to see what people are writing about SNS, Social Media, and Social Media Marketing (SMM). It is also a good place to see what the old school people are doing to try to make themselves look as if they are up on the Internet and the new media.

Guess how much this logo cost? A total of $200 (USD) Incredible? Read on.

It is pretty easy to pick the people out who are still stuck in the old ways at these "Marketing Online Professionals" communities. They write things like,

For this reason , I am convinced that SM works ONLY when being integrated inside a marketing plan, together with media placement, PR, promo, direct marketing and CRM. 

It is painfully obvious that the guy who wrote this is an old-school advertising guy posing as an "Internet and Social Media" expert. He laments the fact that his Social Media Marketing (SMM) plans fail consistently. He is trying to convince us - but more likely he is trying to convince himself - that the old way is vital.

In some ways he's right. The old media is vital if my product is targeted to to the 45 ~ 70-year-old crowd or if my product or service is for everyone in the family from the smallest kids to grandpa and grandma (think Disneyland, etc.) But when your product /service is for the under 40 crowd, I think you'd have to consider long and hard about spending a cent on old media... In many cases you would not be doing your client any favors to recommend spending huge budgets on TV or radio. I wrote about that in detail here and here.

Earlier today, I went to a different online professionals community and was so surprised to find people saying things like "First things, first! You must hire a professional to do your company logo!"

Of course a good logo is a must... But coughing up a few thousand dollars to hire a professional? And this advice coming from a community that calls itself, "Online Professionals"? Hmmm... Why would the people who are supposedly sold on online business be pushing the old-school ways?

Perhaps hiring a big-bucks professional will be necessary down the line, but I think us Internet types should try to use our creativity and brains before we just throw money at the problem like people used to do....

As I suspected many times, these online communities are often places where old-school advertising agents try to gain credibility as "Internet" and "online experts"... But they actually don't really do either (always ask any self-proclaimed "Internet" and "Social Media Marketer" for a list of their blog URL's and Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, U-Stream, Mixi (in Japan), etc, accounts. That's an easy way to pick out the frauds).

Click here and read at bottom for tips on how to pick out the poseurs.

I know many a small to medium business owner who has hired a professional and spent a few thousand dollars only to wind up with a handful of designs and they didn't like any of them. Foolish especially considering the fact that new businesses must watch out for every single penny and paper clip!

Well, now my friends, there is a solution! It is a company called Logomyway.

Logomyway is a new service that started in April 2009. At Logomyway you make a logo design contest and get 1,000's of artists to compete for your business... You pay nothing excepting to the winning submission. The cost can be as low as $200 (USD). You decide the winner's prize fee.

My company, "Universal Vision" logo... $200! Excellent!

Hiring a professional designer right off the bat is old school. It is also the easy way to do things for salaried employees who have no problem spending the company money... They wouldn't recommend this is it were out of their pocket. The people people who were so quick to recommend throwing away $1,000 ~ $2,000 were from an online professionals group! I'm surprised that anyone would suggest the old way without investigating the new and exciting things going on online. Try Logomyway.

http://www.logomyway.com/

I have no investment nor business relationship with Logomyway whatsoever but have used it twice  and recommended to three other people who have used it. Everyone has been more than thrilled with the results... One friend was so happy because the professional that he had hired before - and paid well - gave him designs that weren't that good... He was worried that he was going to be out another $1,000 when I introduced him to Logomyway... The result? He spent $200 and got a killer logo.

And, if you don't like any of the logos... You don't pay!

All hail the Internet!!!!

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Keywords:
Logo, Logomyway, SNS, Social Media, SMM, old media, Japan, Mixi, Internet, Facebook, Twitter, blog, online professionals, Marketing Online Professionals, YouTube, Online Marketing, Universal Vision, Mike Rogers, Marketing Japan, U-Stream, Mike in Tokyo Rogers, 

The Collapse of Old Media - the Rise of Wi-Fi Broadcasting!

It's a recurring theme in many of my blogs; the old order is quickly collapsing right in front of our faces; TV and radio are dying a slow death. Now here is an explanation how Wi-Fi could be the final nail in the coffin.

Viewership and listenership of TV and radio are sliding down a steep slope. Of course, as for TV, think about it; anyone who has the time, in this day and age, to sit for 3 or 4 (more?) hours a day, everyday, in front of the TV must either be;

a) Jobless
b) Poor
c) Inactive
d) Lazy

Hate to be so rough sounding but I can't think of any sponsors who want to advertise or market to people who are inactive, lazy or have no money... Unless, of course, the sponsors are fast food or ice cream and sweets...

Most TV & radio stations are both heading the way of the Short-Wave or Ham radios. The Internet is allowing for totally new ways for entertainment to be delivered to a targeted audience. Why would sponsors waste huge budgets on TV advertising that advertises to EVERYBODY when they can target their select group?

They won't. That's why old media is dying a slow death. Read more about that here and here in two articles I wrote about the Long Tail.

What a waste of a life. People who fear death, 

yet don't know what to do with themselves on a slow Sunday.

To prove that this collapse of the old order is not happening just in Japan, here's an article from the Washington Post that talks about TV getting the worst ratings in history:

NEW YORK (AP) — Americans avoided television in historic levels over the past week.

CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox together had the smallest number of prime-time viewers last week in two decades of record-keeping, the Nielsen Co. said. Given the dominance of the big broadcasters before then, you'd probably have to go back to the early days of television to find such a collective shrug.

The first week of July tends to be among the slowest weeks of the year in television, anyway, with families more engaged in barbecues and fireworks. The problem was magnified this year because July Fourthcame on Sunday, largely knocking out one of a typical week's biggest viewing nights.

Together, the four networks averaged 18.9 million viewers last week, Nielsen said. During the season, "American Idol" alone usually gets a bigger audience than that.

I'm sure that this sort of article will be coming out less and less in the near future. Why?

Because every week will be worse than the last one for TV, radio, magazines and old media. And this sort of story is becoming old hat really quickly.

The only place that will shine from here on out is the Internet. The revolution is being televised - not by what TV is showing, but by what they don't show.

Also, and this is not yet widely publicized but, data currently shows that 68.4% of all Japanese household now have Wi-Fi. It is estimated that by 2017, that number will be over 88%. Also consider the fact that many people now use "pocket" (portable) Wi-Fi in their cars and outside. Wi-Fi is, folks, a broadcast signal.

Wi-Fi can carry both television and radio and Internet broadcasts (of course)... Now, think about this, folks...

It is estimated that a near 100% penetration of all Japanese households will be achieved by 2023. If Wi-Fi is a broadcasting signal, which it is, then de-facto Wi-Fi can broadcast TV and radio, etc. then why does a manufacturer like, say, Panasonic, need a TV or radio station for?

They don't.

Think about it. A company like Panasonic wants to communicate directly with customers, but under the old order (Broadcasting laws), they can't. The middleman in all communications as of today are the mass media... But what happens to the mass media when companies like Panasonic, Sony, Toyota no longer need them and can communicate directly to potential customers via Wi-Fi? And, since Wi-Fi is an extremely short distance signal, Wi-Fi REQUIRES NO BROADCASTING LICENSE!

The only thing the major manufacturers and sponsors need is content. They DO NOT need TV and radio stations for content. In fact, most TV and many radio stations (especially in Japan) do not create content: outside production companies do. In many cases, especially in Japan, broadcast stations are merely a platform.

This means that companies like Panasonic (or your favorite company's name  here) no longer needs to pay the middleman broadcasting companies anymore. They can use their own broadcasting set-ups going into the homes through Wi-Fi... Wi-Fi has an unlimited number of channels too!

And, then, think about this, if the advertisers and sponsors can create their own content and go directly to the audience, then why wouldn't they? And when that happens, who will the TV stations and major mass media get to buy their broadcasts?

No one, I reckon.

Content will always be king, but broadcasting platforms, like TV, radio, cable and satellite TV channels are in trouble. By the way, most of the upper executives at broadcasting stations already know about this (at least the smart ones do) so what I am telling you isn't a shock to them...

Like I said, TV and radio are dying a slow death. This news isn't a revelation; it's a death sentence.

Man Commits Suicide Live on U-Stream

Now this is bizarre! News Time reports that a Japanese man has committed suicide on live streaming on the Internet:

Reports from Japan today say that a 24 year old man took his life live on the Internet.

The suicide occured after the man - who comes from the city of Sendai - had posted complaints about his job online after being placed on extended sick leave from August.

On Sunday night he broadcast his intentions to kill himself on live streaming service Ustream. He had been discussing his views on life with an audience on the site.

His broadcast received feedback from users with some encouraging him to end his life as he planned.

On Tuesday he resumed his broadcast and he hung himself at around 05h30 in the morning.

The Ustream service stopped the broadcast around half an hour later after receiving reports from viewers. The man’s body was found by police later in the morning.

Japan has averaged over 30,000 suicides a year for the past 12 years which is one of the world’s highest suicide rates. 

Does Social Media Need Old Media to be Effective? No! Here's Proof!....

By Mike in Tokyo Rogers

There sure is a lot of boring stuff on Social Media these days. I was just checking out Linkedin where they had a topic of "What are for you the most common mistakes in social media marketing approach?" (sic)

It said:

What are for you most the common mistakes in social media marketing approach?

Either from client's side or agencies' side, what are the obvious reason why social media strategies you have seen were not working?

For me , some are:
- lack of time investment,
- Boring / irrelevant content,
- lack of clear objectives,
- Being inactive,
- Do not react when sollicitate
- ...
What are yours?

(sic)

I didn't correct his post. That's how poorly it was written. I'm assuming that he's missing one of the reasons that his SMM is doing poorly is because his spelling, diction and grammar are wretched... 

Besides that, these good people are mainly talking about pick, Twitter and Facebook (Mixi is only in Japan). Some of the good folks actually did write intelligent comments and I usually don't write comments on these things, but this time I made an exception. I responded:

 I think everyone is missing two huge points that I see all the time and that I do believe will be, say, Twitter's undoing within 3 years (besides 60% of all Twitter users dropping off within the first 30 days).

1) Boring writers make boring content. Get motivated, creative and funny or interesting writers. Quit forcing office clerks to do SMM (I see that all the time). If the writer is not motivated what makes anyone think the readers will enjoy the writing?

2) Quit sending out motivational and sales stuff all the time... I'd say that at least 1/2 of the junk I get on Twitter is the same as Direct Mail. Who needs it?


Another guy (obviously an old hand at advertising and marketing) wrote:


I see the market and clients every day, and the thing I can tell you is that a B to C company investing all its marketing budget and ressources in social media has 99% chances failing. (sic)


This might be true, but rather than trying to convince you or me, I gather he is trying to convince himself... This would also explain why his Social Media Marketing efforts fail. He doesn't "get it." 


He goes on to write:


This for one simple reason, their are rules and processes in marketing and nobody will want to connect and engage with a brand you don't know.
For this reason , I am convinced that SM works ONLY when being integrated inside a marketing plan, together with media placement, PR, promo, direct marketing and CRM. (sic)


Notice that there is not single fact or piece of evidence that he inserts into his claims. What a load of nonsense. What "rules"? What "processes"? 


(I can imagine that his retort to my skepticism would be "Because I know. I've been in this business a long time!" Just as the captain of the Titanic, Edward Smith, was a thirty-two year veteran when they hit that ice-berg!)


I bet this is the kind of crap he tells his clients. What's he doing on a Linkedin Social Media site besides posing as a SMM expert I don't know. Besides that, like I said, I hope this guy doesn't write copy. It's terrible. 


Besides his being wrong and just throwing out opinions. He obviously doesn't know or comprehend how to use Social Media well... I suspect that, from being in a dusty old advertising company desk for so long, that he's so used to taking client money and going out to "do" lunch while on the client's dollar that he thinks he can do things the old way; think for a while (or tell someone else to do the thinking) and order someone else to do the Social Media part (I explained above why that's a bad idea) and sit around like always.


Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. 


I didn't blast the guy (like he deserved), but added this as my last word:


One more thing that I think is missing - and I don't agree that a big bucks mass media plan is necessary - I've done it without one.

Notes: We increased airline passengers to and from Japan for a Chinese airlines by over 270% between October 2009 and April 2010. We also increased tourism to Croatia by 300% in three years (don't forget this was during a seriously down market - airlines lost billions in 2009) all by the internet only - with minimal mass media support (we certainly did not spend one cent on mass media!).

It seems that too many good folks are trying to do the SMM the lazy way... You do SMM to keep costs down, but SMM is, perhaps not labor intensive, but it is certainly effort intensive.

Besides SMM you need to do a Word-press blog for the client that includes SNS (Use Ruby on Rails to build - dirt cheap) and gives away killer content, has contests and prizes, and motivates people to return everyday!

Being lazy and throwing money away at the old media then doing a few Twitters doesn't cut it anymore. (which is actually why I say Twitter is in serious trouble!)

Make a killer blog for the client (perhaps using a persona like Helga of Volkswagen - Look her up on Google). The blogs needs video (suggest U-Stream recorded to YouTube), SNS, chat, free information, excellent and compelling writing, and free giveaways all the time.

That motivates people!

Then your SMM directs people to the blog, not to some boring corporate site that is nothing more than an online company brochure (that is structured like web 1.0) .

This is effective. This s the new way. It is not easy and lazy people who think that throwing money or half-butt efforts at it need not apply.


Like I've said many times before, it seems that a lot of these people who claim to be experts at Social Media actually do not "do" Social Media. If you ever get anyone who claims to be an expert, first off ask for their URL's


Hint: If they do not blog - and do not actively blog at least three times a week - I'd say it's a 99% chance that they are blowing smoke in your face. Don't fall for it. 


Smart Social media marketers will have a rundown of what they do (excepting for invitation members only sites) as the signature of their e-mails. Here's mine:


Mike in Tokyo Rogers
e-mail: mike.rogers@universal-vision.jp 
Blog: http://modernmarketingjapan.blogspot.com/

Lew Rockwell: http://www.lewrockwell.com/rogers/rogers-arch.html
Twitter: http://twitter.com/mikeintokyo2004
Pick: http://naver.jp/mikeintokyorogers
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/mikeintokyo2004

Facebook: www.facebook.com/MikeinTokyoRogers
Linkedin: http://jp.linkedin.com/in/mikeintokyorogers

Look for these kinds of things when investigating a potential company to help you with marketing. Be leery of companies, big or small, who claim to be experts at Social Media. The proof, as they say, is in the pudding.


Some of my readers know I will be on vacation from tomorrow, but nevertheless the BLOG calls! Tomorrow, I will place diagrams and information tomorrow morning for all of you who have mailed about bit differentiations between Japanese Katakana and Japanese Kanji versus English pertaining to my recent blog.


But, just for a teaser. Consider:


Word (translation).......................................Bit count


イギリス (England)...................................8 bits
England.......................................................7 bits
旅行 (Travel)...............................................4 bits
Travel...........................................................6 bits


Data on the Internet consist of bits. It is the way data is stored. This is important to know if you want to run a successful business in Japan.


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Keywords:
blog, Social Media, Mixi, Google, Helga, SMM, Mike Rogers, Social Media Services, China, Croatia, England, Travel, bit, bit count, Japan,  Japanese Kanji, Modern Marketing Japan, social media marketing, promo, Japanese Katakana, PR, Twitter, marketing plan, Facebook, Linkedin, airlines, YouTube, U-Stream, e-mail, Lew Rockwell, Mike in Tokyo Rogers, chat, Marketing Japan, web, web 1.0, Volkswagen, Ruby on Rails, Placement, Word Press, mass media, free information, direct marketing,

Why the Digital Conversion Will Destroy TV Tokyo and TBS

Yesterday I wrote about why the conversion in Japan by television stations from analogue to digital is going to wipe out a bunch of FM radio stations. Today I will write about why this will also kill off some of the poorly rated TV stations too (good riddance!).

The digital conversion that is scheduled to occur on July 24, 2011, is going to kill off a bunch of FM radio stations in this country (especially Tokyo) because you will no longer be able to hear FM radio in your Toyota or Nissan without special equipment. The digital sets are not compatible with analogue.

Also, the economic consideration that analogue equipment is not manufactured in Japan anymore plays a big part. It may not be so much a matter of what the consumer wants, but what the manufacturer wants.

From that blog:

After July 2011, on your dashboard, you will have a digital GPS, Internet, digital TV and digital radio. Want to do Social Media, YouTube, Twitter, U-Stream, blog? Got you covered. Need to Google or Yahoo search? Sure. When you need traffic conditions, just a click on your GPS will give you up to the minute details on traffic and road conditions. All the TV channels? No problem. Throw on top of that 6 digital radio channels and, of course, a CD player and probably an iPod connection, and you have the next generation of car entertainment system. 

Read that entire blog here.

Today's blog will show you why I think this digital conversion is going to kill off TV stations like TV Tokyo and TBS who are consistently last in ratings.

It is important that you good folks have an understanding of the Long Tail to fully grasp this. For a brief explanation of what the Long Tail is, read here and here.

When the digital conversion happens in July of 2011, suddenly there is going to be massive choice on your television. The playing field will be evened quite a bit. Instead of being able to receive just 4 ~ 6 channels like today's analogue TV does, your system will be able to receive hundreds of TV channels.

Now, what happens to people when they are given a choice? Do they stick with watching the same 4 channels, or do they TV zap and try many channels?

History shows us that when people are offered a choice, they will let their own personal tastes dictate what they decide to consume whether we are talking about TV programs, restaurants, clothes, or even  jams and jellies for toast.

Let's use jam and jelly for our example.

Go to any convenience store where shelf space is limited. How many jams and jellies do they offer? 4? 5? Go to any grocery store. How many jams and jellies do they offer? 18? 20? Go to Amazon.com, how many jams and jellies do they offer? Over 1,300.

Now it makes sense that if Joe-blow is buying the lemon-tangerine marmalade made in Holland, that is one less purchase of the generic brand "STRAWBERRY JAM" that he is going to make, right?

Get it? Having more choice doesn't mean that people will buy more jam; it means that people will diversify their tastes. The more people are offered, the more wide-spread their choice becomes, the more dispersed their spending will be. More choices will result in a displacement of time and money from the old choices that were dictated simply due to lack of choice (caused by limitations due to time, money and space).

When people have wide choices they will exercise more discretion 

and more personal taste and freedom of choice

It is the same with TV.

When there are 300 TV channels competing for your attention and sponsor's money - both of these critical factors to the survival of TV (audience and money) will be more widely dispersed.

Think of it this way: You are the maker of, say, outdoor goods like tents, bicycles and barbeques. Say, the price for 25 TV ads on a TV station like TV Tokyo is about $150,000 (USD). The price of 35 TV ads on the sports channel is $14,000. Sure there are more viewers on TV Tokyo, but Sports TV offers a targeted audience of men who like sports (and, by the way, many are probably are married, have families, and like the outdoors).... TV Tokyo's audience ranges from 10-year-olds to 80-year-olds; Sports TV target audience is mainly 30 ~ 50-year-old men.

Now, where would you spend the money if you were the sponsor?

It is obvious that you would go for the Sports TV. It will be the same for all manufacturers whether they make diapers or women's fashion brand shoes. The diaspora of audience will make targeting even more important as time goes by.

But there will still be a place for the catch-all, wide audience accepted platform to advertise hit products; say the new Hollywood Blockbuster or the new Disney Park attraction that appeals to the entire family. Those will still be handled by the old style TV stations. The old style TV station thats target a wide audience will be amply served by today's #1 rated (by far) TV stations: Fuji TV and Nihon TV (at #2)... The stations like TV Tokyo and TBS, who fight it out for last place, will find it more and more difficult to find buyers for their ad space and are headed for very tough times and difficult decisions.

Sports TV can sell TV ads for 1/10th the price of TV Tokyo because they only have about 60 employees... TV Tokyo has over 700! TV Tokyo group has over 1,000!

Guess what? When the playing field is evened, then everyone will have to tighten their belts, but guess who is going to have to fire 50 ~ 70% of their employees and probably merge with another company? TBS and TV Tokyo.

While today, the stations like TV Tokyo and TBS are all crowing about their new digital channel... The content is still the same. Only the broadcasting platform has changed. What makes them think that just by changing platforms that their ratings and income are going to increase? Good question. If anything, their viewership is going to decline due to more choices being offered and some people opting out of buying an expensive new TV (at my home, we opted out of TV over seven years ago and haven't missed it once. I wrote about not having a TV and the benefits of that here and here.)

Today, TV Tokyo's ratings are dead last and they are losing millions of dollars a year and having to borrow massive amounts of money from banks to stay afloat. How long will banks keep lending them money? (Their FM radio subsidiary, InterFM alone is losing somewhere in the neighborhood of one million dollars a year!) What makes TV Tokyo management think that, when digital goes online, and the competition increases one-hundred fold, that their fortunes will get better?

Fuji TV consistently #1 in ratings by far.  

Strong on branding and image and logo is the same each and every time.

I think that they are in for a quite rude awakening, in spite of their current bravado and high hopes that digital is going to save them from their current conundrum... (I've mentioned before that "hope" is a very poor business plan).

I also think that their poorly designed Digital 7 TV logo is a sign of things to come for them. Of course my opinion here is very subjective but I think this logo looks old-fashioned, cheaply designed and not "cool" at all. It looks old-fashioned but not "retro" and looks like a design that wasn't made by a world-class professional. Like I said, it looks very poorly thought out and very cheap. Also, in typical TV Tokyo fashion, every time you see it it is a bit different.... Why don't these guys take classes in Marketing and Branding 101?

This is TV Tokyo's Digital Logo. 

Sorry, guys but this looks really cheap. 

How about some shadows or gradation? 

Why don't you hire a professional designer?

Let me get cute here and say that, I think, in this case, "7", for TV Tokyo is not lucky. In this case, 7 is their second number (on analogue they were channel 12) and if you've ever played Craps, you know that 7 on your second number means, "Loser."

This is why I say that the times they are a changin'... Look for no TV Tokyo and no TBS TV by 2030!

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Keywords:

Social Media, FM radio, FM, blogs, Yahoo, U-Stream, AM radio, Nissan, Tokyo, Pick, Twitter, Toyota, TV, YouTube, AM, blog,  Internet, Japan, digital TV, digital radio, Japan, TV Tokyo, TBS TV, 

One More Phase in the Shattering of Mainstream Media

By Mike in Tokyo Rogers

I rode the Tokyo subway today and saw a sign inside the car that notified the passengers that as of July 24, 2011, terrestrial television stations will no longer broadcast analogue signals in Japan and will finally make the switch to digital.

This signals what could be the final nail in the coffin of many of the FM radio stations in this country and the collapse of TV Tokyo and TBS.

I predict that InterFM will either be bankrupt or sold to a new owner by 2014 and TV Tokyo will be in the same situation: insolvent or absorbed by another company by 2016.

I'd like to explain why in this post but first let me give you some important details involving the background of broadcast signals so that you may have a better understanding and why I think this way. Let's see if you come to the same conclusions that I have.

Let's start with AM and FM radio.

AM is called "Amplitude Modulation" and its signal is wavy. When an AM signal comes to an obstacle like a mountain or a tall building, it bounces off of it in many directions and continues going. This is why, in many areas of the United States, there are some AM stations whose broadcasts can be heard over 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) away. The AM signal is like an ocean wave so, if there are no mountains to make the signal deflect into the heavens, the signals will bounce along the earth's surface.

This makes AM radio great for talk and the friend of people who drive long-distance trucks.

FM is called "Frequency Modulation" and it goes in a straight line. When an FM signal hits a mountain, tall building or other obstacle, it stops. We've all had the experience that our favorite FM station drops off when we go through a tunnel or through a valley. That's the shortcoming of FM radio.

What many people do not know is that terrestrial TV uses the same FM frequency for its broadcasts too.

People who were brought up in Japan may remember from their childhood small portable transistor radio that had the AM / FM band on them but also played TV channels NHK and NHK Educational (1 & 3).  If you understand that analogue TV uses FM frequency to broadcast, then you now understand why those old transistor radio's had TV channels on them.

This is important so keep this in mind.

On July 24, 2011, the TV channels will stop broadcasting analogue signals. What this really means is that they will stop using the FM band for transmitting their services and go to terrestrial digital.

FM, Frequency Modulation, is a broadcast wave. Digital broadcasting is not a wave at all. Digital broadcasting is a completely different technology. Digital broadcasting is not a wave, it is binary data.

I suppose that some of you have seen binary data before. It's a series of zero's and one's and looks something like this:

00110010111100101101001110100010000100001000001

00110001000011101110001010101001001000100111000

01011110111101111011011111110010001000001101010

That is binary data. The reason why digital broadcasting is so clear and high quality is that, with binary data, it is either "on" or "off" unlike an AM or FM signal that can be blocked or deflected by tall buildings, mountains or even trees. Binary Data is crystal clear.

Now, how does this spell the end of FM radio? Bear with me here, cause now we're getting to the nitty gritty.

The future of FM radio doesn't lay in what they broadcast or how they up the ante of quality of content (but, of course, it will always be a competition between stations for dwindling audience and sponsorship dollars)...

The future of FM radio depends on what Toyota does.

That's right. Toyota is the one who decides what is going to happen. In my opinion, it is obvious that FM  is is serious trouble and that we are now witnessing the end of an era; and it's happening, in slow motion, right in front of our eyes.

But, don't take my word for it, decide for yourself. Let me explain further...

Think about this: Where do most people listen to FM radio? In cars, right?

The Japanese government and all the big manufacturers in this country, Sony, Panasonic, etc. (who, by the way, all have an incestuous relationship with each other and Toyota in stock holdings) are pushing for the digital conversion big time. These manufacturers need their flagging fortunes to get an injection of sales and profits that new broadcasting and new equipment will generate. Digital equipment costs anywhere from $500 - $2,000 (USD) a set. The Japanese manufacturers want and need for the Japanese public to go whole-hog into digital broadcasting. They need the public to dispose of their analogue equipment and buy the new digital equipment... (By the way, a cursory check of analogue equipment at Bic Camera the other day - what little I could find - showed that all the analogue products were all manufactured outside of Japan).

If digital broadcasting is a failure in this country, then it's going to hurt Japanese manufacturing for a very long time... The analogue equipment I saw was all manufactured in Malaysia, Indonesia, and I found some from Taiwan (which was surprising).

Now, how does Toyota fit into this equation?

Imagine your car dashboard. It has a GPS, CD player, and television/radio set all built together. Most people have an analogue device (with terrible TV reception!) From July 2011 there will be no cars that come with that device. They will all be digital.

After July 2011, on your dashboard, you will have a digital GPS, Internet, digital TV and digital radio. Want to do Social Media, YouTube, Twitter, U-Stream, blog? Got you covered. Need to Google or Yahoo search? Sure. When you need traffic conditions, just a click on your GPS will give you up to the minute details on traffic and road conditions. All the TV channels? No problem. Throw on top of that 6 digital radio channels and, of course, a CD player and probably an iPod connection, and you have the next generation of car entertainment system. (In Japan, as of now, there are 6 digital radio channels that are shown on CS or BS television. These channels broadcast soft jazz and classical music).

Toyota HD Digital Screen. 

All sorts of fun things like iPod, digital TV and digital radio... 

Do you see FM or AM radio? I don't

Remember I wrote that digital signals are binary data and analogue is a broadcasting wave? This is important now.

I ask you, dear reader, to consider; Since Sony, Panasonic, etc. and companies like Toyota and Nissan all have an incestuous relationship as to stock holdings and company ownership, and they desperately need to have the Japanese public buy their digital devices that cost at least $500 each... And digital devices receive binary data and are not analogue compatible... Do you think that Toyota will cut a hole in your dashboard, just under your $500 digital GPS, TV, Internet, radio device in order to install a $1 dollar made in Indonesia FM tuner?

I don't, and I think it is insane to think otherwise. Actually, the notion is laughable, isn't it?

So, if people can no longer hear FM radio in their cars, then where are they going to listen to it? In the subways with their white earplugs through their iPods and iPhones?... Get serious. Nobody does that now!

If there are any folks reading this who remember how popular short wave was way back when compared to what it is today, then they have a good idea what I think the future of FM radio in Japan looks like....

No FM radio in the car spells doom for the FM stations because if no one can listen in their car, then FM will have no listeners at all... No listeners means no sponsors. No sponsors means no money. No money means no FM...

I cannot imagine how they will survive the next 5 ~ 10 years.

If I were a station like J-Wave - that still has good ratings and high listenership - I'd get into negotiations real soon for an open digital radio channel... And, no, the license and digital conversion are not cheap. We're talking hundreds of millions of dollars. The smaller stations will never afford it, so they are dead.

And that's why July 2011 is the last nail in the coffin of FM radio in Japan.

But what about AM radio you say? Ah, that's the interesting contradiction. AM radio will probably survive. Because AM car radio is the bottom of the pit for basic car equipment (besides nothing at all)... Almost every Tokyo Taxi has an AM radio in it. Few have FM radios.

Tomorrow I will explain why this entire situation bodes ill for TV Tokyo and TBS TV.

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Keywords:
Nissan, Tokyo, Pick, Twitter, FM, Toyota, FM radio, Yahoo, U-Stream, J-Wave, Social Media, TV, YouTube, AM, AM radio, blog, blogs, Internet, Japan, digital TV, Panasonic, digital radio, Japan, TV Tokyo, TBS TV, iPod, iPhone, Sony, Google, Tokyo subway

Using U-Stream to Promote Real Time Concerts

By Mike in Tokyo Rogers

The big summer concerts in Japan are having a hard time selling tickets... In fact, from what I hear (and I have excellent sources) ticket sales for Fuji Rock and Summer Sonic are dismal at best.

The word on the street is that ticket sales for any shows are bad but there is one ticket that is impossible to get as all four shows are completely sold out!

George Williams at GG10 July 21, 2010 (photo by Yoji Kawada)

Four four days this week, Music On! TV and host George Williams have held the 9th annual "GG" concert series this year at Shibuya Ax and this is the hottest ticket in Tokyo.

GG10, as this year's shows are called, have a logical, well-planned lineup (see line up here) - along with a crowd pleasing ticket price of ¥4,200 (about $45 USD). This blows Summer Sonic out of the water! Summer Sonic has a artist lineup that probably pleases no one (Who in the hell wants to pay ¥29,800 (about $320!) to see Offspring open for Jay-Z?)

On the other hand... It might be better than going to the other side of Japan and spending over ¥82,000 ($900 USD) to go see Fuji Schlock where a bunch of geriatric old folks relive the crap music of the late 60's and early 70's...

Not only did the Music on! TV folks do a superb job of lining up a killer roster of artists, they promoted the shows well and they were sold out long ago.

Eat your hearts out Creative Man and Smash!

On top of this, I was extremely impressed as to how George Williams used his own Internet media page, "The Music Revolution Starts Here" to promote the shows real-time and give us updates using Social Media such as, Pick, Twitter, blogs, YouTube, and U-Stream. See George's The Music Revolution Starts Here, er, to go to that page click this entire sentence....

So, while all of Japan withers in this economic slump, George Williams and Music On TV sell out four shows in a row... They used a great mix of old media and Internet to sell the tickets and the great line-up gave them killer credibility. Sorry, Summer Sonic, but no one wants to pay to see Taylor Swift open for Stevie Wonder... Jeez! What a lame-o line up!..

I wonder why companies like Creative Man don't understand the simple concept of "Credibility is hard to get. It is even harder to buy"?

On top of this, George Williams uses the Internet and Social Media to give the concert goers - as well as the unlucky folks -who wanted to get tickets but couldn't - a chance to see what's going on back stage! Wow!

That's not just cool... That's intelligent business!

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Keywords: The Music Revolution Starts Here, Tokyo, Pick, Twitter, U-Stream, Social Media, Summer Sonic, Music On! TV, Stevie Wonder, YouTube, blog, blogs, Internet, Japan, Taylor Swift, Jay-Z, Offspring, Fuji Rock

Google Announces Google Caffeine! Amazing Search Speed and Results!

By Mike in Tokyo Rogers

Last month Google announced their newest web search index and it's called Caffeine and it is just fantastic! If you write or blog as often as you should, then you are always looking for ways to brush up what you do to give your readers information that they want as quickly as you can...

After all that's what the Internet is good at and what Google is excellent at!

Whether you are using any sort of Social Media for marketing, business or pleasure, Google's new Caffeine is just like what it is called, "A wake up jolt!"

Take heed all bloggers, video bloggers, U-Stream or Youtube users, Facebook, Mixi, Linkedin, Pick or Twitter users because when you upload any sort for information to your SNS site or on the Internet in general, Google Caffeine is tracking you and allowing the people who are looking for your information to find you quickly and easily.  

Recently, I had been wondering how it was possible when I had an article published on, say www.lewrockwell.com, that a Google search who show my article in the results within 2 hours of publishing, but that's exactly the super-high speed performance that Google Caffeine offers. It is simply incredible.

From Google's press release about Google Caffeine:

Caffeine lets us index web pages on an enormous scale. In fact, every second Caffeine processes hundreds of thousands of pages in parallel. If this were a pile of paper it would grow three miles taller every second. Caffeine takes up nearly 100 million gigabytes of storage in one database and adds new information at a rate of hundreds of thousands of gigabytes per day. You would need 625,000 of the largest iPods to store that much information; if these were stacked end-to-end they would go for more than 40 miles.

Wow! That's a fair share of information processing in the blink of an eye, I'd say.

This makes it critical for those of you who are blogging to effectively use your keywords and tags so that a search on Google using Google Caffeine can find you. It also makes it even more important for folks who are video blogging or using Youtube or U-stream to make sure that they input the correct information on the description of their videos and tag them as much as possible...

Of course, then, it also stands to reason that when you do upload a new blog or vlog, then you will announce it on you SNS network (Facebook, Mixi, Twitter, or Pick) and those, too, will be analyzed by Google Caffeine and get you even better results for your efforts.

Hats off to Google for Google Caffeine. Just how does Google keep this torrid pace of great ideas and products up?

I think Yahoo is in trouble even though Yahoo Japan is doing pretty well.

By the way, just as a side note, I spoke to George Williams on the telephone this morning and he mentioned something to me that I thought was very interesting and a sign of  the times. He said, "You know, it used to be that young people were interested in working at companies like Sony or a big record label. Not anymore. Young people today are only interested in two companies; Apple or Google."

Absolutely. And with products coming out like iPad and Google Caffeine who can blame them?

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Keywords:  

Google, Twitter, Yahoo Japan, Linkedin, iPad, Mixi, Yahoo, video bloggers, bloggers, Social Media, Google Caffeine, Google's new Caffeine, Youtube, Mixi, Twitter, U-Stream, Facebook, Business, Sony, Apple, Pick, Google, SNS, blog