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11 May 2012

Marketing Lessons From Marvel’s The Avengers

2012/05/11 · Sophie Woodrooffe · Responses (34)

Five years, $100 million in global marketing and Samuel L. Jackson. That’s what it took for Marvel’s The Avengers to earn over $700 million its opening weekend – a box office record.

For perspective, second place goes to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, which earned $483 million its opening weekend in 2011. And while 3-D admission price markups help account for The Avengers’ massive margin, it doesn’t tell the whole story.

That story begins five years ago with the release of Iron Man, the first of The Avengers’ superheroes to star in a feature film. Of the six superheroes, four had starring roles in films prior to The Avengers’ release and two had sequels. All were hits at the box office

Marketers… Assemble!

So what does this mean from a marketing standpoint? First, brand recognition matters. As Disney’s head of distribution Dave Hollis explains, Marvel “established character equity that, when combined, makes one and one equal a lot more than two.”

It also helps that Kevin Feige acted as Marvel Studios’ chief producer for the entire franchise, which allowed him to create a unified brand and “storyworld” from the get go: All of the films have the same feel and share the same vision.

The range of characters makes the film appealing to a broad demographic. Image via imdb.com

And although the film is unequivocally geek-centric (I’m sure The Simpsons’ Comic Book Guy wishes he could attend), as The Hollywood Reporter’s Borys Kit explains, the range of actors makes it appealing to multiple demographics.

Bright colours attract kids, Robert Downey Jr. brings in the 40+ crowd, Samuel L. Jackson is a huge draw for African Americans, and Thor ensures all half-mortals will be lining up to experience the 3-D extravaganza.

Feige suggests in a New York Times article that the feel-good levity that writer/director Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Cabin in the Woods) brought to the film is in part responsible for its word-of-mouth success. And with overwhelmingly positive (and numerous) Twitter mentions, it’s fair to say that’s probably true.

And then there are the games and apps. Avengers Alliance has been available on Facebook since March, with 1.2 million users playing per day, helping spread the word online.

If you’d rather play a game even Tony Stark would be proud of, there’s the Super Hero Augmented Reality App for iPhone and Android advertised by Wal-Mart in partnership with Marvel, that lets players assume the role of their favourite characters (here’s looking at you, Hawkeye).

The marketing genius lies in the app’s retail details, says Mashable’s Lance Ulanoff. Wal-Mart, in partnership with Marvel, is selling over 600 Avengers-related products, and to get fans into their stores, they have erected QR codes and placards of the superheroes.

Bring the Super Hero AR app to Wal-Mart, snap a shot of the QR code and unlock more characters. Take a photo of one of the placards and the character appears in life-sized digital glory beside you, which, of course, you can send to your friends, enticing them to head to Wal-Mart for their own photo shoot.

But perhaps the most significant marketing coup goes to the humble shawarma. According to TMZ, shawarma sales skyrocketed inLos Angeles after the premier. The reason? A post-credit scene features the Avengers team noshing in a shawarma shop. How’s that for celebrity endorsement?

8 May 2012

Brand USA Launches International Tourism Campaign

2012/05/08 · Sophie Woodrooffe · Responses (9)

For the first time ever, the United States of America is going whole hog on its international branding strategy, releasing a series of ad campaigns in Canada, Japan and the U.K. to promote tourism. The campaign, launched May 1, will soon be extending to Brazil and South Korea.

Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the tourism industry has been in decline, with some calling it a “lost decade.” Roger J. Dow, President and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, wrote in an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal that market share for long-haul travel has fallen from 17 percent to 12 percent.

One of the central causes of that drop, he argued, was that “the supply of visas for travel to the U.S. has not kept pace with skyrocketing demand in key emerging markets.” International tourists are flooding the gates, but the gates remain closed.

Somebody must have been listening because the U.S. government has since created a non-profit tourism promotion corporation called Brand USA. The “public-private entity” is a product of the 2010 Travel Promotion Act, designed to stimulate growth in the tourism industry.

As a concept, country branding is fairly new: The Country Brand Index, for example, has only been around for 7 years. But the tangible benefits of promoting a country’s image extend well beyond travel and tourism – how a nation is perceived affects business, immigration and even politics.

And how a country is perceived isn’t as straightforward as one might think. Large population and economic clout does not necessarily translate to a better reputation (China ranks 65th on the CBI).

From cheeky catchphrases to quintessential imagery, country branding, like any branding, has a lot to do with communicating a particular message clearly and effectively.

The "Virginia is for Lovers" slogan has been in use since 1969 and generated over $800 million for the state the first year it was launched.

In the case of the U.S., Brand USA chose the tagline “Discover A Whole New America” to go along with its TV commercials. Spearheaded by JWT, it’s a whole lotta Americana squeezed into a 1 min. spot.

As far as the U.S.’s CBI ranking – while it perched on the number one spot back in 2009 (thanks in large part to the “Obama effect”) the country has since slipped back to sixth place.

We’ll see whether the tagline and country music resonates with the masses.

1 May 2012

Sparksheet Nominated for National Magazine Award

2012/05/01 · Sophie Woodrooffe · Responses (16)

Oscars? Meh. BAFTAs? Pish posh. Cannes? C’est rien. These events may mean something to some, but for us, it’s all about the 35^th Annual National Magazine Awards!

Did we mention we were nominated?

The National Magazine Awards Foundation is a not for profit institution that celebrates excellence in Canadian digital and print publications.

This year Sparksheet received a nomination in the category of Best Digital Design. We’re up against digital heavyweights like The Walrus, Fashion Magazine, and Toronto Life, so we’ll keep our fingers crossed.

Last year we won Silver in the same category. Can we best ourselves? We’ll find out on June 7 when the winners are announced in Toronto.

In the meantime, thanks to all our loyal readers and supporters. We couldn’t do it without you. Congratulations and good luck to all the other nominees!

27 Apr 2012

International Symposium on Online Journalism Roundup

2012/04/27 · Sophie Woodrooffe · Responses (19)

When you hear the name Austin, Texas in conjunction with a springtime conference, chances are the International Symposium on Online Journalism is not top of mind.

But more than 200 journalists, scholars, and media executives congregated at the University of Texas at Austin from April 20 to 21 to share ideas about the future of web journalism.

Yes, the event lacked the fanfare of SXSW Interactive, and yes it had its share of sobering messages (newsflash: journalism is in turmoil!), but for those who attended there was plenty to blog about (and some of it optimistically).

The IOSJ took place in the auditorium at the Blanton Museum of Art on The University of Texas at Austin campus. Image by Georgia Popplewell, via Flickr.

The Nieman Journalism Lab’s post-event coverage included themes familiar to Sparksheet, like design, mobile and social media.

ISOJ’s all-star data panel made clear there’s a distinction between art and data that sometimes gets blurred at the expense of user experience. Pretty graphics must provide context and useful information to be journalism.

A more extensive takeaway roundup came from ISOJ co-organizer Amy Schmitz Weiss. For Weiss, the event’s most important panels focused on user-friendly content, monetization strategies, social networking and training.

As [Google’s Richard] Gingras mentioned, it’s time for media companies to recognize their prize possession – their valuable content and how they can maximize its use beyond just publishing it and presenting it once on the website.

A recurring and much blogged symposium highlight was Los Angeles Times’ Ben Welsh’s presentation on “creating ‘robots’ in a journalist’s image,” or, using automated scripts for the same reason that mathematicians (I assume) use calculators: so they can spend more time problem solving and less time taking jobs away from computers.

We’ve all heard it before: design without content is meaningless and content without design is impenetrable. Raju Narisetti, The Wall Street Journal’s deputy managing editor, made this point in his presentation with the caveat that people will only be willing to pay for news in the future if it’s packaged in the right way. That is, if content is turned into an experience.

Monetization was a recurring conference theme. Image by Jon Lebkowsky, via Flickr.

Pedro Doria, digital platforms editor at Brazil’s O Globo discussed (and demonstrated) the power of tailoring digital content to users’ preferences with the creation of the “evening edition” (a Mais), a daily update for tablet readers that takes into account the more relaxed “lean-back” approach to nighttime reading.

The results? Average time spent per day on the O Globo app jumped from 26 minutes to 77 minutes. Now, what was Narisetti saying about experiential content worth paying for?

Don’t have enough time to chew through all the live (or post) blogging verbiage? The #isoj hashtag delivered snackable bits of content all weekend, with plenty of links to pictures and videos.

Human-assisted reporting, mass intelligence, and mobile mobile mobile: What we learned at #ISOJ nie.mn/JULz5u #ISOJ12

— Nieman Lab (@NiemanLab) April 24, 2012

#ISOJ research journal on online journalism available via Kindle, Nook, and print bit.ly/IaEgWU #ISOJ12 — Rosental(@Rosental) April 23, 2012

— Alberto Cairo (@albertocairo) April 21, 2012

Look, I’m not saying we can save journalism with a giant carwash fundraiser, but are we not even going to DISCUSS the idea!? #isoj12 #isoj
— Omar L. Gallaga (@omarg) April 21, 2012

SXSW Interactive it wasn’t, but without the 24-hour party atmosphere and pervasive question: “Yeah, but how can we make money?” the ISOJ was afforded a robust and focused atmosphere instead, with everyone’s energy focused on the content. Who says journalism is dying?

23 Apr 2012

Responsive Design at The Boston Globe

2012/04/23 · Dan Levy · Responses (27)

Responsive web design is close to our hearts at Sparksheet. Since last summer our own website has been 100% responsive, meaning that it adapts to whatever screen or device you consume it on.

The beauty of responsive design is that publishers don’t have to design from scratch every time a new gadget or operating system comes out, saving time and money. It also means that content consumers are treated to the optimal experience, whether they’re on the train or in their living rooms.

The Boston Globe introduced their responsively-designed website last fall. The site contrasts sharply with the old Boston.com site, which used to serve as the Globe’s primary web destination. Earlier this month the Society for News Design named BostonGlobe.com the “World’s Best Designed” news website:

The Globe’s responsive design is remarkable and deserves to be noted as one of the key moments in media design history, akin to USA Today’s embrace of color and graphics. Its impact will affect a generation of digital journalists and is an example of what’s possible when smart design and rich content is balanced with a focus on being standards compliant and future-friendly across all platforms.

In an in-depth Q&A with Miranda Mulligan, The Boston Globe’s Digital Design Director, Sparksheet asked Mulligan how the site’s responsive framework affected the editorial and design process at the paper. Here’s what she told us:

The single biggest challenge is the necessary culture shift for the entire digital business. From the developers, to the designers, to the editors and content creators, to the business-money-making side, everyone has to change their thinking and process. And well, change is hard. Here are some of the challenges that profoundly impact editorial:

Designing and building interactive information graphics and practising data visualization storytelling relies on a significant change in the design and development process.Traditionally, most newsrooms have relied heavily on Flash to execute interactive stories and data visualizations. Since Apple’s iOS and Flash do not play together nicely, finding another way to tell these stories is paramount. Also, designing interactives and data visualizations for mobile has, by and large, been an afterthought. Now, designing for mobile must be the first thought.Also, this design process relies heavily on rapidly prototyping and creating the visual design within the browser. The process is smoothest when the experience has been designed and coded using mobile-first techniques, and then designing and enhancing for wider, more fully featured browsers. It seems awkward at first, but gets more and more conformable with practice.

One significant upside for content producers and site editors: Character counts in headlines become less of an issue because there is no way to know the exact (to the pixel) location it will be on the page for the user. Letting go of pixel-perfection is quite freeing.

Most modern news websites rely heavily on third-party relationships: i.e. advertising networks, a video management and serving relationship, events and calendaring solutions, games, obits, etc. However, the code served from these vendors will most likely not play nicely on a flexible grid unless it has been specifically written to do so.

Flash movies/games will not play on iOS devices. There are a variety of techniques around handling and crafting experiences with this type of content. However they all involve some significant hands-on haranguing.

20 Apr 2012

How Will Apple’s Antitrust Lawsuit Affect the Book Publishing Industry?

2012/04/20 · Sophie Woodrooffe · Responses (6)

In the words of New York Times media critic David Carr: “Why the crumbling book business is worthy of so much attention from Justice while Wall Street skates is a broader question we’ll leave for another day.”

It’s the first part of that sentence that counts.

Carr’s observation appeared in his article documenting the trial and tribulations of Apple and five major publishing houses. Simon & Shuster, HarperCollins, Hachette, Macmillan and Penguin have been charged by the Department of Justice for price collusion in an attempt to loosen Amazon’s stranglehold on the e-book market.

According to the allegations, back in 2010 Apple and the five publishers worked out a deal behind closed doors to fix e-book prices and adopt the agency-model. The publishers arranged to sell their books through Apple’s iBookstore for $12.99-$14.99 (versus Amazon’s bargain price of $9.99).

In contrast to the wholesale model, where retailers (i.e. Amazon) determine the value of e-books, the agency model allows publishers to set the price and the retailer (i.e. Apple) takes a 30 percent cut of the earnings. So far, three of the five publishers have settled, leaving Apple, Macmillan and Penguin to defend in court.

Image via socialmediachimps.com

This is where Carr’s throwaway line gains significance. It’s no secret that the industry is struggling to cope with technological drift: People just don’t buy books in print like they used to. Instead, as a 2011 report indicates, the future of publishing lies in e-books, while print sales are at best flat lining and at worst, dropping.

And that’s what makes this case so important. The competing business models (wholesale versus agency) will directly impact the nascent (but growing) industry.

Image via socialmediachimps.com

Mark Coker of Smashwords, an indie e-book publishing and distribution company, argues that while conspiracy is never a good thing, the agency-model is far superior because it gives the smaller fish a chance to compete with the big ones.

When retailers set the price, not only does it kill competition, but authors and publishers don’t see the same profit margins. It boxes out the competition and may even lead to higher prices for consumers in the long run.

Coker also contends that the conditions of the settlement are especially burdensome because at the very moment when publishers should be given the flexibility and nimbleness to react to technological change, they’re being forced to spend money complying with monitoring requirements that will slow them down: They’re being legally mandated to stay dinosaurs when what they need is to evolve.

Image via socialmediachimps.com

While this particular chapter may have come to a close, expect the saga to continue as Penguin, Macmillan and Apple do their battle in court. In the meantime, check out the Justice Department’s Competitive Impact Statement for a more technical version of the case. If you rather know how this will affect e-book pricing as a consumer, check out Paid Content’s predictions.

What do you think, is the lawsuit killing the publishing industry? Let us know in the comments section or on Twitter.

13 Apr 2012

The Creativity of Milton Glaser

2012/04/13 · Sophie Woodrooffe · Responses (10)

In our recent Q&A we spoke with Jonah Lehrer about his new book Imagine: How Creativity Works. During the conversation we mentioned Milton Glaser, the American graphic artist and co-founder of New York Magazine.

In his book, Lehrer uses Glaser’s obsessive dedication to detail (which he learned from his mentor, Giorgio Morandi), “his ability to stick with a problem until it surrenders,” to remind us that creativity isn’t always about epiphanies. A lot of the time it’s about hard work.

Lehrer illustrates this point with the story of the creative process behind Glaser’s I ♥ NY ad campaign. Even though an initial design had already been approved, Glaser couldn’t give up on it. Finally, after weeks spent ruminating, he came up with the iconic design while scribbling on a scrap of paper in the back of a cab.

The moral of the story? Success ♥ Persistence. Or, as Lehrer calls it, grit.

Below is a selection of some of his work to jumpstart your own creative impulses.

Milton Glaser and Clay Felker founded New York Magazine in 1968

You should look at every problem and think, “What can I learn by doing this?” And if you think you can learn nothing, forget about doing it.

Glaser designed the "B" to resemble the Brooklyn Dodgers' logo to give the brewery a sense of history

My definition of design is this: it is going from an existing position to a preferred one. It’s everything.

Milton has designed the cover art for all artists on the Tomato Records label, including Nina Simone and Louis Armstrong

Failure and ambiguity are hard concepts to sell to a client who just wants to sell more cans of tomatoes.

Glaser designed this Bob Dylan poster in 1966, which became one of the most widely distributed posters of all time

The real issue is not talent as an independent element, but talent in relationship to will, desire and persistence.

Glaser modified his design after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The black smudge represents the location of the World Trade Center on Manhattan island

There are three responses to a piece of design – yes, no, and WOW! Wow is the one to aim for.

11 Apr 2012

Marketing Lessons from The Hunger Games

2012/04/11 · Amanda DiSilvestro · Responses (29)

It seems like everyone loves The Hunger Games. According to MTV News, the film broke box office records, earning an astounding $155 million on opening weekend in North America alone.

This surpasses both The Twilight Saga: New Moon as well as Spider-Man 3, making this the third-highest grossing premier weekend of all time. This shattered any predictions made by experts, and it left many wondering: How did they do it?

The answer, of course, lies in the marketing strategy.

The Hunger Games was made to be marketed

The mockingjay pin logo

The Hunger Games’ success can teach marketers about the importance of having a solid product. This is the reason that the book had such a large following in the first place. First, the story had an amazing logo. The mockingjay pin was used on the cover of the novel and become key to the branding of the film. In the novel, the pin stood for courage and spirit. Lionsgate knew what the logo meant to fans of the novel, and put it in every trailer, poster and ad.

Second, the novel puts a heavy emphasis on partnerships. Spoiler Alert: Although only one person was supposed to win the games, two came out victorious. The novel is full of instances where one person could not have survived without the other, and this is something that can transfer over into the marketing world.

Having partnerships with other companies can strengthen your brand. Although you may not want to sync up with your competition, working with a complementary brand could help bring you a new audience.

Actors Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth

Marketing the movie

Aside from what the novel brought to the table, the film’s producers were able to create a few little marketing tricks of their own. Word-of-mouth became very important for those charged with marketing the film.
The film had different social media accounts for the different “districts,” or groups of people, that were described in the novel. If you wanted to see what one district thought about something in the news, all you had to do was head over to that district’s Twitter account.

Tributes: We welcome you. We salute your courage – and your sacrifice…

— The Capitol (@TheCapitolPN) March 28, 2012

PANEM ALERT: The Hunger Games Adventures are now open for all of Panem. Visit bit.ly/PlayTHGAdventu… & start exploring Panem today.

— The Capitol (@TheCapitolPN) March 30, 2012

Marketers also created social media quizzes that let fans find out which district he or she would live in if they were in The Hunger Games’ story world. Once again, bringing the story to life really worked. There was an element of interaction to this marketing tactic, and teens everywhere couldn’t seem to get enough (In case you were wondering, I would have lived in District 8).

Most importantly, the social accounts never gave away any scenes from the film. The integrity (and suspense) of the story was preserved.

If you were to read the novel, you would likely find many more marketing lessons that relate directly to your business. Unfortunately, you will likely be too wrapped up in the story to really
pay attention.

29 Mar 2012

Kony 2012: Cause Marketing Lessons

2012/03/29 · Sophie Woodrooffe · Responses (7)

When it comes to viral marketing, writes AlphaBird’s Alex Rowland, “success is hard to predict and even harder to replicate.” While hindsight is always 20/20, it’s difficult to know in advance which Man Getting Hit by Football video is going to reach the million viewers mark.

Case in point: Invisible Children’s Kony 2012 campaign. In just five days, the cause marketing video reached 100 million viewers, making it “the most viral video of all time.” And that’s despite being 30 minutes long (an eternity in web time) and about an emotionally difficult subject. In other words, it’s not your typical viral hit.

Invisible Children's website provides a downloadable "action kit" with posters and flyers.

Founded in 2004, Invisible Children uses video campaigns to raise awareness about the infamous guerrilla faction LRA and its leader, Joseph Kony. Earlier this March the campaign exploded, thanks to the release of a 30-minute documentary describing Kony’s atrocities and providing a call to action.

Read Write Web’s Alicia Eler put it this way: “By the end of the video, Kony’s face is burned into our brains – we fear him, we hate him, we want to make him famous and then murder him.”

Cause marketing lessons

It’s hard to deny Kony’s impact on the digital (and real) world. As Eddie Reeves wrote in the Huffington Post, “The Kony 2012 campaign is, quite simply, one of the most significant marketing promotions in recent history, ranking alongside the likes of Philip Morris’ introduction of the Malboro Man and Apple’s “1984” Super Bowl spot.”

Invisible Children has 414,263 followers on Twitter, 3.1 million likes on Facebook, a Tumblr page and YouTube channel with nearly 86 million views of its documentary. #Kony2012 trended globally, with celebrities, politicians, and activists getting in on the discussion.

PLEASE go to t.co/E4GvJifH Even if its 10 minutes… Trust me, you NEED to know about this! #1LOVE

— Rihanna (@rihanna) March 7, 2012

Thanks tweeps for sending me info about ending #LRAviolence . I am aware. Have supported with $’sand voice and will not stop.#KONY2012

— Oprah Winfrey (@Oprah) March 6, 2012

Good to see such strong interest in #stopkony – a key step to helping those most vulnerable.

— Bill Gates (@BillGates) March 8, 2012

A Kony 2012 poster in Hong Kong. Image by Chun Lam, via Flickr

Content marketing blog iMedia Connection argued that the video’s weakness (at least according to critics) is also it’s greatest asset: simplicity. The video was easy to watch (well – produced), easy to understand (plain language) and easy to respond to (with a click of a mouse you could donate, download posters, or write to a political official).

Social Media Today notes that one of the keys to the campaign’s success (after the slick content) was that they targeted celebrities to act as brand advocates for the cause. The eruption on Twitter might not have happened had Justin Bieber not tweeted about it.

Invisible Children urges people to contact "Policy Makers" and "Culture Makers" via Twitter through a direct link on their homepage

Australia’s Marketing Magazine provides some lessons of its own, suggesting that the consistency of the campaign across channels made it easy for people to understand what the campaign was all about. They could jump from Tumblr to YouTube to Facebook and would see the same message.

The beauty of social media is that it lets brands keep the conversation going. In this case, when the conversation turned skeptical, the organization was able to respond immediately and across channels.

They provided links on their site directing users to more in-depth content, they pointed people to their budget, they aired YouTube videos addressing the concerns and they encouraged conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #AskICAnything.

And the campaign isn’t over yet. Expect to see a Kony 2012 Part 2 video released in the very near future, and much more conversation as the story unfolds.

20 Mar 2012

Is The Future of Email Social?

2012/03/20 · Sarah McMahon-Sperber · Responses (20)

Seeking a more effective way to manage time and communications, European IT giant Atos recently announced that it would be eliminating all internal emails from the company by February 2014.

Atos' CEO, Thierry Breton

CEO Thierry Breton, who’s steered clear of internal emails for more than five years, claims that the amount of time spent sorting, organizing and responding to an ever-expanding inbox (estimated at about ¼ of an employee’s workday) calls for a serious change in the company’s communication approach.

Though the concept may seem quirky at first, Atos is simply the most recent in a long line of forward-thinkers that have questioned the efficiency of email in professional settings. Recent trends are already showing that younger internet users are weaning off their inboxes, which they often perceive as overly formal.

So what medium will Atos have stepping into email’s 40-year-old shoes? They will deploy a combination of crowd-sourced documents, internal and external instant messaging systems, social media platforms, text messages, phone conversations and (gasp!) face-to-face meetings.

Radicati, a technology market research firm, has recently released research indicating that the use of these formerly unconventional communication devices is spreading like wildfire in corporate settings.

In 2009, the firm reported 219 million corporate IM users (of both internal and public IM platforms) and predicted numbers would rise to 524 Million by 2013. Social networking is also gaining professional credibility, with Radicati’s recent surveys revealing that 55 percent of respondents now use internal and external networks for business purposes.

Unified Communications effectively streamlines messages and communications from every platform

Unified Communications

At the turn of the millennium, while some were stocking up on water and non-perishables, writer and consultant Art Rosenberg was working on a new term to designate an emerging kind of synchronized, streamlined communications. He coined it Unified Communications; a term that would eventually encompass all previously mentioned new and not-so-new mediums.

Today, UC solutions stand for a set of applications and tools that make information as fluid and platform-agnostic as possible by seamlessly integrating and streamlining all the tools one might use to communicate.

At the heart of UC is the concept of “presence,” comparable to an online/offline/busy/away messenger status, but applied to every facet of your communications tool belt. UC allows you to organize contacts and keep them updated on your ‘communication status’- so colleagues, partners and customers can constantly be kept in the loop on whether you’re currently available to chat, IM, text, talk on the phone, conference call, Skype, crowd source, data share or video message.

If you’re unavailable, UC tools and settings will efficiently streamline the information to you through the appropriate device as soon as you’re available.

Despite great hype, Google Wave never quite the splash it had hoped to

The medium is the message, but don’t shoot the messenger

Previous attempts have been made at lightening the email load, as can be seen with the now quasi-obsolete Google Wave and with Facebook’s anticlimactic Project Titan (which in 2010, had techies predicting the end of Gmail and today, barely rings a bell). In a recent Fast Company piece, Steve Rosenbaum steps way out of the box by suggesting that the United States Postal Service take over email platform management. This, he argues, would allow for the US Postal Service to remain relevant while reducing junk mail by attributing a cost to email advertising.

But not everyone is quite ready to bid free-access electronic mail goodbye. The medium, some argue, is not the problem. The true solution lies in teaching staff proper email etiquette and empowering them with a suite of equally relevant and useful communication tools.

Smartertools.com built this infographic based on 2011 email stats

According to TED curator Chris Anderson, a few golden rules may well be enough to establish a first set of corporate email guidelines and cut down on the clutter. In June 2011, the two sought out solutions to their overcrowded inboxes through his personal blog. More than 75,000 people read the duo’s cry for help and drafted up a helpful 10-point Email Charter.

It may seem basic at first glance, but think again, as a look at your inbox will likely reveal a few infractions. Here’s a hint: it’s all about efficient subject lines, short and courteous messages and distinguishing CC’s, from Forward’s, and Replys from Reply Alls. Now if all else fails and ten rules still feels like too much to handle, let me suggest the tried and tested KISS principle – Keep It Simple, Stupid.

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