SF Chronicle Profile on Ken Foster - "The Art Presenter"

Just a week after Bhairavi was profiled, Ken Foster, a member of our family (Nayan's partner) was profiled in the San Francisco Chronicle Magazine. Ken is the Executive Director of San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. A quote about "the least well-known important person in the Bay Area arts scene:"

"...for Kenneth Foster, the center's 57-year-old executive director, big-picture thinking is precisely what has distinguished his four-year tenure at an institution that has variously enticed, angered, entertained, frustrated, enlightened and baffled the Bay Area community in its 15 years of shape-shifting existence."

Ken, we're really proud of you. Here it is:

The Art Presenter

Ken Foster and his Big Ideas forge a new identity for the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

Steven Winn

Sunday, May 25, 2008

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In a recent six-day stretch, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts offered programs running the gamut from the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players to a "women in hip-hop" summit, Smuin Ballet's "Dancin' With Gershwin" to an evening of performance art that featured multimedia wrestling and work by an artist known as Devil Bunny in Bondage. A pink-walled installation festooned with photographs of nude men in "The Way We Rhyme: Women, Art & Politics" had visitors buzzing in the gallery. Sergei Parajanov's classic 1964 film, "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors," unspooled in the screening room.

Trying to find some pattern in that fairly typical week at San Francisco's capital of multidisciplinary art might be a fool's errand. But for Kenneth Foster, the center's 57-year-old executive director, big-picture thinking is precisely what has distinguished his four-year tenure at an institution that has variously enticed, angered, entertained, frustrated, enlightened and baffled the Bay Area community in its 15 years of shape-shifting existence.

Foster's widely heralded success in creating a vivid new identity for YBCA springs from his conviction that even the most daringly experimental or politically charged art can speak directly to a wide audience.

"I don't think contemporary art should be available only to this thin slice of the educated elite," he said in one of several long conversations at his office in the center's sleek South of Market facility. "I do think it can be confounding. People say, 'I don't go to a contemporary art museum or dance performance because I don't understand it.' Our job is to help them get past that. I do think people are innately curious. The challenge is to pose the right questions and ideas that help open the door."

Foster's approach is especially clear when it comes to dance, a keen area of interest for him. "There's an audience for whatever you want there to be an audience for," he said. "A lot of presenters say, 'Oh, we have no dance audience.' If you don't have a dance audience in your town it's because you haven't worked at it, you haven't cultivated it, you haven't brought in the right companies and developed it over time."

That could serve as Foster's defining mantra. Not surprisingly, for someone who has thought as carefully as he has about his field, he's written a book on the subject: "Performing Arts Presenting: From Theory to Practice," published in 2006. In it he describes the arts presenter's role as a fusion of mapmaker, educator, storyteller, essayist, explorer and provocateur.

Soft-spoken and self-effacing by temperament, Foster is anything but reticent on the job. In his methodical, quietly purposeful way, he has done one thing after another to find new points of entry for the public into YBCA's programs, without pandering or dumbing down. And he's done it while remaining a largely under-noticed, under-the-radar figure in an arts community with a full complement of thriving egos. Foster may be the least well-known important person in the Bay Area arts scene.

Since taking the center's top job in 2003, Foster has presented an impressive range of performing artists from across the world spectrum, a number with African provenance or roots, who had rarely or never been seen here. The 2007-08 season has featured the Bay Area premieres of works by Congolese choreographer Faustin Linyekula, Vietnamese choreographer and performer Ea Sola, the Dutch theater company KASSYS, the Ilkhom Theatre of Uzbekistan and a fervent collaboration by the Brooklyn-based Urban Bush Women and Compagnie Jant-Bi of Senegal. Many of the shows have sold well.

A key innovation of Foster's leadership are his "Big Ideas" - broad themes laid out in the center's program books and other publications that invite the public to make connections between the various performances, exhibitions, films and other programs. Foster has also funded and helped facilitate important collaborations between local and international artists. One of them linked a San Francisco dance troupe with a company from Kolkata, India. The resulting production, Margaret Jenkins' embracingly heartfelt "A Slipping Glimpse" (2006), is one of the signal achievements of Foster's regime.

The YBCA director has earned high marks across a broad spectrum in the arts world. "As far as I can see, Ken is succeeding at this better than anyone else before," said Daniel Levenstein, director of Chamber Music San Francisco. "He's presenting very interesting and unified work. Even if he didn't verbalize it, he's conveying a message." Deborah Cullinan, executive director of Intersection for the Arts, called Foster "an extraordinary presenter, one of the best in the country."

Jennifer Bilfield, artistic and executive director of Stanford Lively Arts, described Foster's cross-cultural work is as "a model of programming in the urban environment." Olga Viso, director of Minneapolis' noted Walker Art Center, praised her colleague's determination to escape the "silos" that confine art and artists in their disciplines.

Detractors tend to question Foster's administrative policies, point to his lack of experience in visual art - a charge he freely acknowledges - or belittle the "Big Ideas" as marketing tricked out in pompous art-speak. What they don't doubt, for the most part, is his judgment as a presenter and his ability to connect to artists.

For spoken-word artist Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Foster is "one of those rare presenters - and I've dealt with tons of them all over - who has a feel not just for where we are but for where we're headed." Circo Zero director Keith Hennessy singled out the "excellent work from Africa" that "responds to the contemporary global movement of bodies, culture and capital."

Unlikely career trajectory

A career arts administrator who had spent most of his working life booking performing arts series on college campuses before coming to San Francisco, Foster may be singularly well suited to the protean nature of his job. Blending ideological certainty with a gift for empathic listening and a bedrock faith in art's transformative power, he seems at once keenly attentive to the demands of leading a complex organization with a $8.2 million annual budget and serenely comfortable in his professional skin.

His personal story of self-exploration and revelation is strikingly congruent with his career path. Raised in a Denver suburb, he hewed close to home for a decade after graduating from college. He married his high school sweetheart at 19, fathered two sons and taught drama at the high school he had attended. But there were buried forces at work beneath that conventional crust.

In 1995, while vacationing with his wife of 25 years, Foster came out to her as a gay man. He remained in the house with his family for three more "turbulent" years (they lived in Tucson, at the time). "We'd had a wonderful marriage," Foster said. "I was not having this other secret life on the side. I'd been able to compartmentalize those feelings for a long time. But what was going on inside was, well, it was pulling me apart."

In 1998 Foster moved out and began making a life with the man who has been his partner for the past 10 years. Nayan Shah, 42, teaches history at UC San Diego. It's hard not to view Foster's fascination with multiple narratives and his work in what he calls the "blurring, bending and breaking" of walls between artistic disciplines as subjects deeply grounded in his own experience.

Foster's trajectory was not preordained by precocious beginnings. Born in Connecticut to a pipefitter father and a mother who worked first as a housewife and later became a nursing home activities director, Foster grew up in Littleton, Colo., in a family with five siblings. What he calls a "sheltered suburban life" left him unprepared for Macalester College. He withdrew after his freshman year. Foster graduated from Denver's Metropolitan College in 1972 and took the teaching job back at his high school.

Eventually moved by the "deeply political example" of his father's union activism and his mother's courage in starting her nursing home career in midlife, Foster decided to go back to school. "I didn't want to become the people I was surrounded with," he said of his immovable fellow high school faculty members.

Foster took out some hefty loans and applied to a master's degree program in educational theater offered by New York University. He spent two summers in England and a third in New York, discovering, to his surprise, that "I could hold my own with people I thought would eat me alive." When he heard that Littleton was planning to convert its old town hall into an arts center, he applied and got the job.

"That was the best and worst experience of my life," he recalled. Foster raised money to finish construction, directed shows, warred with the board over programming and finances - and decided after two years that he had to move on. He and his family went first to Decatur, Il., where Foster spent two years as managing director of the fine arts center at Millikin College, and then to State College, Pa., where he had a much larger job of the same kind at Pennsylvania State University. Foster's choices there transformed a staid performing arts program into something more adventurous. Companies such as Alvin Ailey, Urban Bush Women and the Bill T. Jones/Arne Zane troupe made their first appearances at Penn State.

James Moeser, who hired Foster for the Pennsylvania job and is currently chancellor at the University of North Carolina, said in an e-mail that Foster "used the arts to create conversation about difficult issues - AIDS, sexual orientation and identity. He refused to accept NEA grants during the period when conservatives in Washington were attempting to censor controversial projects. He literally put Penn State on the map as a cultural center."

Further challenges and more convulsive changes, both professional and personal, awaited at the next stop - the University of Arizona in Tucson. Once again Foster rebranded a conventional program by bringing in plays such as "Angels in America" and "The Life and Times of Malcolm X." Once again he was a flashpoint of controversy. "Ken raised the bar here in a way that hasn't been met since," said Kathleen Allen, arts editor of the Arizona Star. "He made some very gutsy choices." That was at work. At home, he made the "wrenching but inevitable" decision to come out and leave his wife.

The San Francisco story

The Yerba Buena center was 10 years old when Foster was hired in late 2003. An interim director was in place at the time, following John Killacky's resignation from YBCA's top post earlier that year. Most of the storms over identity politics, multiculturalism and access to local arts groups that dominated the center's early years had died down. What Foster faced, instead, was a financial crisis. Despite a healthy annual subsidy from the city's Redevelopment Agency (now fixed at $3.5 million), the loss of important grants and a post-dot-com economy had the center in a bind. "It was a mess," said Foster. He cut nine staff positions, increased usage fees and made other adjustments to balance the budget.

The new executive also faced the delicate task of reconceiving a popular predecessor's concept of the center as a process-oriented "idea house," brimming with residencies and workshops for many artists. Killacky and Foster are respectful of each other and remain friendly, but their differences are clear. "I chose to build and invest more broadly," said Killacky, a video artist himself who is now program officer for arts and culture at the San Francisco Foundation.

"If Yerba Buena was going to have the impact it should nationally and internationally," Foster argued, "it needed to have a curatorial direction, put a stake in the ground and stand for something."

Foster proceeded cautiously at first, but certain changes alarmed some local artists, who thought he was turning his back on them in favor of those from outside the region. When Foster canceled a modest subsidy program for local performing arts groups, as part of the financial reorganization, one artistic director sent a blistering letter to every member of the YBCA board. Foster is philosophical about the episode. "We'll never be friends," he said of the director. "But we can work together as colleagues." Meanwhile, Foster's record of supporting and commissioning local dance troupes - Joe Goode Performance Group, Robert Moses' Kin, the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company - speaks for itself.

The Big Ideas remain a centerpiece of Foster's leadership. Some find the concept of ideological linkages between programs instructive and expansive. Others think it burdens art with an agenda or dismiss it as mere rhetoric.

Adam Frey, executive director of the Contemporary Music Players, recalled a conversation with Foster about whether YBCA might want to "curate" (or present) one of the group's programs. (Some companies are presented and publicized by the center; others, such as Smuin Ballet, rent the facility.) "It was suggested that if we'd had a piece by a Chinese composer, and the piece was subtly a criticism of the Chinese government, it might have worked," said Frey. "I thought that was so unlikely. There is this divergence of values between being aesthetically motivated and socially motivated. I feel a little left out of the loop."

Anyone who controls access to some of the city's most coveted stage space is bound to come in for his share of knocks. By all appearances Foster handles himself with equanimity and poise in the face of it. Several staff members confirm his measured, unruffled management style. Better as a strategist than a showman himself, he is not the visible, dynamic presence that Killacky was. And yet the center continues to have an arty, place-to-be-seen allure.

At January's opening of a video and documentary exhibition devoted to the revered Bay Area choreographer Anna Halprin, a large crowd roamed through the galleries, watched the slow-motion gyrations of dancers in an interior courtyard aswarm with falling leaves and listened, beers in hand, to live music in the lobby. "This is fantastic," said Teresa O'Rourke, 54, of Los Angeles, who was there with her sons, ages 17 and 12. "It has such a human scale. There's nothing like this in LA."

On "What's the Big Idea Day" in February, the architecturally cool center had the feel of a super-hip urban county fair. In one room, visitors were feeding cell phone photos and text into a multimedia installation called "Making Peace." A long line of people waiting to get into the Bang on a Can marathon of sometimes daunting new music snaked across the lobby. Upstairs, a group of four participants slowly pinwheeled their arms in an interactive performance and movement workshop. "No experience necessary," a sign outside the door promised.

Witnessing Foster in action, whether in preshow remarks to an audience or in a meeting with his young curatorial staff that turns woolly with critical catchphases ("urban inventiveness," "nude activism," "club culture tribalism"), there's a sustained sincerity and lightness of touch. "I don't know," he repeatedly says to staff members 20 and 25 years his junior. "What do you think?" Even those who have crossed swords or parted company with him express admiration for his even-handedness.

Renny Pritikin, the former YBCA visual arts curator, who was laid off by Foster in 2004 and now heads the Richard Nelson Gallery and Fine Arts Collection at UC Davis, was stung by his former boss' moves to curtail an artist-in-residence program and cut the number of gallery shows from four to three a year.

"I know Ken is more invested in being a straight-ahead performing arts presenter," noted Pritikin. "That said, I give him a lot of credit for keeping it going on for four years in tough times."

Pritikin's successor, René de Guzman, left YBCA for the Oakland Museum last year and has not been replaced. Foster, who concedes that he had virtually no visual arts experience when he took the job here, said he's "very close" to naming a new visual arts curator.

Recently, after a Saturday Indian brunch on Valencia Street, Foster and his affable partner, Shah, invited a visitor back to Foster's sun-filled apartment on a quiet corner in the Mission District. Paintings, prints, photographs, fabric wall hangings and other mementos trace the couple's travels to India, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Taiwan and elsewhere. A presumably ironic place of honor goes to a photograph of Foster and Shah at a 49ers game. "For some reason we were invited to sit in the owner's box," said Foster with one of his warm, shrugging smiles. "When else were we going to do that?"

Near the front door, a wall of family photographs features shots of Foster's ex-wife as well as his two sons at their respective weddings. Aaron, 32, works as a waiter; Brandon, 28, is a sous chef. Both live in Denver. Foster's first grandchild, Amelia, was born in July of last year.

Apparently content in both his job and his private life, Foster is growing more publicly assertive as an arts leader. Earlier this year, in the YBCA program book and an impassioned opinion piece in The Chronicle, Foster announced that the center would no longer post warning signs about the potentially disturbing content (nudity, obscenity, violence) of its productions and exhibits. "We think art's purpose is to challenge us," he wrote. "Controversy, like beauty, will be left to the eye of the beholder."

With his attention focused on the search for new visual arts curator, Foster has been asking himself other questions about the YBCA gallery experience of late. Is there a better way to make use of the cavernous main space? What are some new ways of thinking about wall text? How should audio tours support or supplement the art?

"Why do we have security guards standing around who can't actually do anything if someone pulls out a gun or starts ripping stuff off the wall?" he mused. "All they can do is call the police." Foster put his hands together for a moment and glanced at the ceiling. "Wouldn't it be better to have people here who know something about the art and are engaged in it?"

Foster wasn't posing the questions in the hope of clear answers. He was posing them because, in an arts presenter's job, there aren't any clear answers, only better ways of asking questions.

Yerba Buena in their words

First introduced by Executive Director Ken Foster in 2004, Big Ideas at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts connect the performances, exhibitions and film-video programs thematically. "We believe we have a chance, right now, to look carefully and rigorously at the world," writes Foster in YBCA's "Big Idea Book" for 2007-08, "to embrace it in all its contradictions and build, over time, a beautifully rendered, profoundly moving, thoughtfully articulated route to a more enlightened place."

This season's Big Ideas are Reality Check, Making Peace and Identity Shifts. Foster asked staff members to express them in the "Big Idea Book." Here are quotes from the book:

-- Reality Check - "So while quantum physics continues to scientifically prove the multidimensionality of time and space, and biogenetic engineers conjure Frankenstein chasing Gattaca-like visions of the future, art has the potential to serve as the medium of choice through which we can collectively perceive and experience the global impact of these issues." Cicely J. Sweed, Center for Community Life manager.

-- Making Peace - "In some ways, these projects provide a respite or refuge from the pain, suffering and conflict that has seemed to dominate the work of artists in the past few years." Angela Mattox, assistant performing arts curator.

-- Identity Shifts - "For women, a segment of the population that has traditionally been categorized into the narrow dichotomy of either being the Madonna or the whore (of either being the caregiver or the sex object), it is important to try on a plurality of expressions to arrive at a greater multiplicity of choices." Berlin Golonu, associate visual arts curator.

E-mail Steven Winn at swinn@sfchronicle.com.

Mercury News interview: Company aims to ease treatment of asthma

Here's a cool article on Apieron & Bhairavi in the San Jose Mercury News. In addition to the article, there's a profile and "5 things you want to know about Bhairavi Parikh". She's such a star!

Company aims to ease treatment of asthma

by Stephen Johnson, Mercury News

In just seven years, Bhairavi Parikh helped raise venture capital, start a biomedical company, develop a beneficial new device for asthmatics and win federal approval in March to begin selling the product.

Oh, and by the way, she did it all while raising four children.

The 37-year-old and her husband, Rajiv Parikh, founded Apieron of Menlo Park in 2001 to help minimize the symptoms of asthma, a condition affecting 20 million people in this country.

Building on her biomedical engineering doctorate, Bhairavi Parikh worked with others at the company, which has about 70 employees, to develop a gadget called the Insight eNO system.

The device lets doctors measure nitric oxide molecules in a patient's breath. That's important, she said, because the air-passage inflammation that causes asthma has been linked to how much nitric oxide is in a person's body. By monitoring nitric oxide, doctors can determine the amount, type and frequency of medicines asthmatics need to take to avoid breathing difficulties.

The Insight eNO product approved in March for doctors' offices costs about $7,500. But Bhairavi Parikh and her team are working to develop one that asthmatics could afford to buy and use at home. She hopes to get that approved for sale in three years.

Here are edited excerpts from a Mercury News interview with her:

Q Aside from Rajiv having asthma growing up, why did you make the Insight system?

A The vision for this company is that we make the lives of asthma patients better, so they're not taking too much medicine and they're not taking too little, and they don't have symptoms and they're not afraid to go over to their friend's house because they have a dog and they don't land in the emergency room. It seems altruistic. But it's what the company is founded on and it's the hopes and dreams that actually keep this place moving forward.

Q What do you think about the scarcity of women biomedical executives?

A I do think it's rare. It's even rarer that females found companies. I'm hopeful that in the future it will become more of a commonality as opposed to something that is construed to be not normal. There is always a pull in a woman when she chooses between family and career, and you can't always have it all. It's a very difficult thing to get to the point where you can successfully manage a family and manage having an executive-level position.

Q How do you do it?

A My mother. My nanny. My sister-in-law. My father. We're raising a family by community, you know. I maintain a fairly flexible schedule. I make sure that I spend time with my kids every single day. And I work at nights when they go to bed to make up the time that I'm not in the office. If you build a good working relationship with your peers and with your team members, it can work.

Q What are the pluses and minuses of founding a company with a spouse?

A It was probably the best experience of my life. I mean, I've been married for 17 years, we dated for quite a while before that. We have a very good solid working relationship and there's this mutual respect between the two of us. So conversations are always open, always honest. You don't have to worry about stepping on each other's toes. You don't have to worry about saying the wrong thing and having to deal with the repercussions. The bad thing about it is that the venture community doesn't encourage it.

Q What was their problem with it?

A "You don't want to have two people in a company that have stronger loyalties to each other than they do to the well-being of the business." I would strongly disagree with that statement, because we had a positive experience. But it's not an uncommon point of view.

Q How was it raising venture capital?

A It was extremely difficult. We were young, just finishing graduate education, having young children at home. So I think that made it more difficult to raise money. And my husband came from high tech, he didn't have medical device, pharma or biotech background. His expertise was not in the area that we were looking to raise money in. You have to find the venture capital that believes in you and believes in the story, and the story was that we're going to go change the lives of asthma patients.

Q What is the hardest thing about running a company?

A From a personal perspective, the thing I work hardest at is to make sure that you have a happy organization and it's what takes the most amount of time. Irrespective of meeting your goals and making sure that everybody is trying to get to a common place, the best thing and the hardest thing is to build relationships and to have people become loyal to the cause and to you.

Q You said when you were younger you studied dance and even performed with an Indian classical dance troupe. Why did you get involved in science?

A The whole concept of problem solving keeps my juices flowing constantly and it's actually what I do best. I love to dance. It keeps you whole. But science keeps your mind going. There's always a new problem to solve, there's always something new to invent.

Five things to know about Bhairavi Parikh

Mercury News

Article Launched: 05/18/2008 01:38:40 AM PDT

1. She started dancing when she was 3 and considered pursuing dance professionally. "Now I live vicariously through my daughter (Shivani), who dances incessantly."

2. She said she drives a minivan because "the love of my life is my family," and she needs it to carry her four children.

3. She listens to extremely loud music when she's alone and loves to "escape into the arts."

4. She cites as life-changing events trying to raise venture capital while pregnant with her fourth child and feeling helpless when her son, Anand, was hospitalized with an infection.

5. Her mother is a biologist and her father is a chemist.

Bhairavi Parikh

Mercury News reporting

Article Launched: 05/18/2008 07:46:31 AM PDT

• Birthdate: Aug. 15, 1970

• Birthplace: Waterbury, Conn.

• Position: Co-founder and chief technology officer at Apieron

• Previous jobs: Senior sensor engineer at Natus Medical in San Carlos

• Education: Bachelor's degree in biochemistry from the University of New Hampshire; master's degree in biological engineering from the University of Connecticut; doctorate in biomedical engineering from a joint program with the Worcester Polytechnic Institute and University of Massachusetts Medical Center

• Family: She and her husband, Rajiv, have four children: Arjun, 12, Shivani, 10, Anjali, 8, and Anand, 5.

• Residence: Palo Alto

Senator Harrasses Patriots

The power of Senators to waste people's time and energy is incredible. As reported in the Boston Globe, Sen. Arlen Specter today spent 3 hours with Matt Walsh to learn - surprise! - that the Patriots taped signals from opposing teams. Already heavily penalized for taping aspects of a videotaped game, apparently the good Senator needed more blood. Commissioner Goodall says there is no new information beyond what is known. Apparently, the recession, energy crisis and trade deficits are not important enough for this elected official. This idiot Senator is wasting government time and resources chasing the football team that beat his state's team.

Luckily, the US system of government was designed to diffuse the power of a single lawmaker to affect change. It is difficult to get a law past committees and 2 houses before getting to the President. Unfortunately, a single Senator can compel people to testify in hearings, even something as dumb as the way a sports league disciplines its teams.

Ridiculous!

Star TV!

Star TV, a division of News Corp, signed up with Position2 for search engine marketing and SEO services. Star is Asia's leading media and entertainment company, serving more than 300 million viewers across 53 Asian countries with over 60 television services in nine languages. Every 100 million viewers watch Star.

Congrats to the team to putting this together! Now it's up to the Delivery team to show how well we can do.

Yahoo: Glad I Sold at $30

Tech acquisitions are difficult to do. Microsoft was hoping it could compel Yahoo to sell when it's stock fell to an incredible low of $18.58 a share. Offering $31 a share, Microsoft hoped that Yahoo management would agree to an acquisition. They threatened to go hostile by taking it to a shareholder vote, but as announced on Friday, they will not prevail.

After hearing about the acquisition, I immediately put in a sell order at $30. I figured the stock would not go to $31 unless Yahoo took the offer. If not, maybe Microsoft would raise, but there really not other bidders in a recessionary environment. Then we got lucky.... On one of the days, it a rumor came out that News Corp may counter. My sell order went through for the high of the day. Since then, the stock has remained in the $26-29 range.

Clearly, Yahoo's management and key shareholders did not want to sell. They felt the firm was undervalued. They have significant assets around the world and are #1 for traffic with a use base of Mail users. Yahoo's time on site numbers are amazingly high. Once a highflier, Yahoo is valued low because of Google's success in search. This is true, however, Yahoo's management was discounting the value of its other assets.

Technology acquisitions are notoriously difficult to pull off. Differing cultures cause all sorts of problems. The best people look to leave before the inevitable period of consolidation and rationalization. While integration is occurring, people take their eye off the ball, giving the competition an advantage. Meanwhile pursuing a hostile takeover is distracting to the acquirer. Microsoft's management realized this. They may have some properties, but nothing close to Yahoo's. Imagine the Pyrrhic victory of winning a hostile takeover while your new assets declines in value.

So now Yahoo's stock is in line for a difficult fall. No one wants to buy it and it's going to be a long time before all of Jerry Yang's strategy takes roots. They may tie up with Google for advertising, so that may raise revenue in the short term, but they need a way to fire people's imagination. Right now, social networks are hot. However, the internet and media market goes through all sorts of waves. Can Yahoo lead the next one?

So I'll buy again after the fall...

exchange4media: Position2 demystifies SEM at its Search Marketing Roundtable

As you all know our effort is around the world in developed and developing countries. We are pleased to have the operational infrastructure to work with clients around the world. Thanks to Tuhina for writing an insightful and accurate article...

Position2 demystifies SEM at its Search Marketing Roundtable

Author: Tuhina Anand

May 01, 2008

Position2 held its Search Marketing Roundtable at Bangalore, where the speakers discussed and shared key tips and techniques on Search Engine Optimisation, Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC) and Social Media Marketing (SMM). The session covered a gamut of issues on search engine marketing (SEM), including how to gain maximum from search marketing, misconceptions and myths of SEM and SMM, among others.

Rajiv Parikh, CEO, Position2 began by giving an overview of the online advertising industry and key SEM aspects. Parikh, during his session, spoke on pay per click advertising. He also emphasised on the fact that search engine should be made part of a company’s marketing budget. He said, “When SEM works, it is like black gold, but don’t expect results to happen right away. It’s a detail-oriented process.”

He also spoke about the importance of determining SEM goals, be it in terms of branding, traffic, lead generation or sales. He added, “The power of SEM is such that some small players can appear much bigger than central players on the Net as they might show up above them. Also, sometimes bigger players don’t pay for brand visibility on the Net, which is a mistake in today’s times.”

Tushar Prabhu, Manager-SEO, Position2, began with the basic of how a search engine worked. He said, “We must think of what the end-user is looking for, read the minds of the user to gain maximum from search marketing.”

Echoing Parikh, Prabhu too said that it was necessary to be visible to the customers. He offered a few tips to gain from searches, stating, search today was not just text but video and rich media as well, the inclusion of which pushed up the ranking of the search result.

“Build the site for users and make the content persuasive and compelling to the readers. Use analytics to track user behaviour and then tweak your site to offer better user experience. Keep file names simple and don’t include alphanumeric, the search doesn’t recognise those. Avoid duplication, organise content thematically, update content, make long-term commitment and, most importantly, avoid black hats (or using illegal ways to enhance search result),” Prabhu advised.

The Roundtable also saw a discussion on Social Media Marketing, which in today’s time, every marketer and media planner is trying to find ways to leverage on. Rajesh Sule, Director Business Development, Position2, said, “Social Media Marketing is a great platform to express, exchange and interact, but the challenge is to grab the attention of users as their attention span is limited.”

He further said, “One needs to find a homogenous set among the heterogeneous sets and then use mass customisation to reach out on the web. Another point is to engage the target group on various touchpoints to be able to influence them.”

© exchange4media 2008

Position2 Invited to Google AdWords Advisory Council

We are pleased to announce that Position2 has been invited to join the Google AdWords Advisory Council. Our top PPC specialists have been working with the Google AdWords optimization staff on beta testing new techniques, so we appreciate the opportunity to work further.

The reason our name is Position2 is because we focus on client ROI vs. the highest position. This is not ROI on clicks or lead, but in many cases on actual sales closes. This recognition is a validation of our approach.

200 Mile Relay - Sponsor Me for India Literacy

Dear Friends & Family,

On April 18-20, I plan on running The Relay (http://therelay.com), a 200 mile marathon relay to raise money for the India Literacy Project. This run goes from Calistoga to Santa Cruz. It crosses 36 cities including the Golden Gate Bridge at midnight. Like a marathon, I plan on running about 24 miles for my team of 12 (we plan for people to have "issues"), however this one occurs over 30 hour period over real hills at all hours of the day.

I'll get the running done. I need your help with the fundraising part. The India Literacy Project (http://ilp.net) is committed to putting children in school and out of manual labor. That means there are millions of children that are locked in a cycle of exploitation & poverty. Many have no choice but to work to support their families. The ILP takes a regional approach to establishing/strengthening schools, child care centers and libraries to get children out of the workforce and into schools. An important part of this is working closely with the community to build a culture of education. The results are impressive. A project in Ajmer, Rajesthan took 1000 children in 22 villages and got them out of the labor force and into school. This one program cost a modest $5,500 in 2007. ILP is incredibly efficient with admin costs less than 5%.

Please help make my run the difference maker. There are 2 ways to give. One is to write a check out to the India Literacy Project and send it to me (3910 Duncan Place, Palo Alto CA). The other is to make a donation online (see below). Either way, please let me know (need trash talk fodder for the van ride).

Thank you so much for your support!

-Rajiv

Here are the instructions for an online donation:

1. Visit http://www.ilpnet.org/donatenow.html

2. Click on "Donate Now" button

3. Enter Amount to Donate

4. Under "Designation (Optional)" Form Field, Type "ILP Relay Team"

5. Under "Dedication (Optional)" Form Field, Enter "Rajiv Parikh" (for tracking)

6. Enter email address and login

7. Once logged in, provide required credit card information to complete the donation

WebGuild Blog about Google Sale Performics

It was great to hear that Google decided to sell Performics, an SEM agency. Check out my quote. If ever there was a violation of the "Do not evil" mantra of Google, it would have been maintaining ownership of the firm. Google would have had a hard time telling people that no one has a special advantage in winning on organic and paid search rankings while owning an SEM firm.

On top of that, it would have disrupted relationships with firms that help grow advertiser search engine ad spend. It would have been like an automaker owning a large dealer group - not good.

Smart move Google!

PPC: When Position Matters

In PPC, you are typically looking for the lowest cost of conversion or CPL (cost per lead). Then you apply the sales conversion rate and voila!, you have optimized for cost of acquisition. Position only matter to the extent that you get the appropriate volume.

What if you have a premium product? What if it's an emotional purchase?

Then top position will matter.

We have a client that sells a consumer emergency service. It's an emotional purchase where the buyer can go one of 2 ways: buy right away with a "high quality" service or price compare to get the basic set of functionality.

The focus was on getting the appropriate lead volume at the right cost given the sales close rate. However, given that the price of the product was higher, the sales close rate was low. If the client's ad appeared as position 5 in a list of similar competitors, they would lose out as those purchasers are making decisions based on price.

So we ran an experiment. Take the most relevant keywords, bid high to gain top position and see what happened.

The result: Close rates went up 150%, CPLs went up over 30%, cost of acquisition fell by greater than 50%.

The upshot: Customers perceived high quality by high position. Though the cost of the client solution was 100% higher than the competition, they increased sales to the right target customer.

More Apieron Articles

The articles on the breakthrough Apieron eNO product are starting to come out. One is on the front page of the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal. The other is the Medical Device Daily Newsletter.

First the Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

Better Insight on asthma

Apieron develops a simple-to-use monitor that helps individuals manage the disease

by Lisa Shelby

Dr. Bhairavi Parikh doesn't let her 10-year-old daughter Shivani go outside if it's cold without wrapping her head in scarves.

Shivani was diagnosed three years ago with asthma, and the cold weather can set off the chronic disease that causes inflammation and constriction of the airways and lungs. Parikh describes the feeling "like being a fish out of water." It's a disease that can result in shortness of breath, wheezing and, in extreme cases, death.

Asthma accounts for one-quarter of all emergency room visits in the United States annually, with two million emergency room visits in 2001, according to the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology. Approximately 44 percent of all asthma hospitalizations are children.

Menlo Park-based Apieron Inc. -- a private, venture-backed company -- was formed in early 2001 to develop a simple-to-use monitor to help manage the disease. The device, called Insight eNO, measures exhaled nitric oxide (NO). NO is a marker for inflammation and offers a means of monitoring a patient's response to anti-inflammatory treatment. Asthmatics are treated primarily by inhaling a type of steroid hormone called corticosteroids to help fight infection and reduce inflammation, and the Insight eNO system assists physicians in determining the proper medication.

The rest of the article is available for paid subscribers. I will post the rest once Apieron gets access to the full article.


The second is the Medical Device Daily newsletter:

'A glucometer for asthmatics'

FDA clears Apieron's Insight to personalize asthma therapy

By LYNN YOFFEE
Medical Device Daily Staff Writer

The competition is heating up to corner the market on personalized care for 20 million asthmatics in the U.S. with new technology that allows physicians to test fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FENO), a measurement for assessing asthma-related airway inflammation.

Earlier this month, Aerocrine (New Providence, New Jersey) received FDA 510(k) clearance of Niox Mino, a hand-held point-of-care device for the measurement of airway inflammation (Medical Device Daily, March 7, 2008). Now, Apieron (Menlo Park, California) reports its Insight eNO system also was cleared for marketing. Both devices are intended to be used in a physician's office and provide instant readouts of a patient's inflammatory process and predict response to therapy.

"Inflammation is currently treated by inhaled corticosteroids," Rich Lotti, Apieron president/CEO, told Medical Device Daily. "Our Insight eNO is designed to measure the amount of exhaled nitric oxide in the breath. It's the primary biomarker for inflammation of the lungs. Physicians prescribing corticosteroids will want our device to help them decide to increase or decrease dosages."

The Insight eNO includes a small desktop monitor with a display, trend analysis capabilities and a user-friendly interface. The system uses disposable, single-use sensors to measure nitric oxide accurately and non-invasively.

Since this is a subscriber-only journal, I will post the article when it is available on Apieron's website.

Fanenomics

My 12 year old son has just set up his own blog, Fanenomics. He comments on his assessments of major league players and sports. Arjun is the kind of kid who considers Bill James and Billy Beane cool. In ProTrade, a sports trading site, he's making huge profits. He actually prefer general manager mode in all sports video games and is running a number of sports sim league - scary, I know. Arjun's a real fan, combining opinion with data. So, if you are a sports stat junkie, check out Fanenomics.

The Guild Wins YouTube Best Video Series Award

YouTube announced that The Guild won for YouTube Best Video 2007 Series Award! They also won the Yahoo 2007 Best Web Series Award! Our very own Effinfunny creator, Sandeep Parikh, co-stars with Guild creator Felicia Day. Sandeep plays the hyper-compulsive lovestruck Zaboo in the "real life" multi-player series game obsessed Codex (Felicia).

Even for non-gamers, the series becomes addictive. I love how Sandeep improvs a lot of his lines. Please see my favorite episide at Effinfunny.com, "Cheesybeards."

Check out all the news on this amazing series.

Congrats to Felicia and The Guild writers, cast and crew!

Social Media Presentation at Web 2.0 Conference

I recently spoke on a Social Media panel at the Web 2.0 Conference. During this session we discussed how Social Media and Advertising techniques can be used to gain visibility and increase traffic.

I discussed case studies of how social media sites like Facebook, YouTube and others can be used to increase traffic for 2 B2C firms: Effinfunny and ResponseLINK. As an online comedy video site, Effinfunny could directly target interested groups with engaging videos. They monetize via advertising, so what matters to them is traffic and time on site. For ResponseLINK, they monetize using a monthly subscription service for their medical alarm systems for home-based seniors.

Effinfunny was able to see a 200% increase in traffic over a 2 month period last year. That increase has been durable and growing since them. In their case, they use tools like TubeMogul to periodically place videos at a number of video sharing sites. They also have a group in Facebook and MySpace. Efforts like these are optimized to focus on time on site, bounceback rates and registrations. In their case, it's important to get in front of the passionate audience of stand-up comedy fanatics. A side benefit of this has been excellent search rank in Google for the keywords that matter.

ResponseLINK saw a 200% increase in non-PPC traffic by engaging with discussion sites, forums, and yes, even social media sites. People are very passionate about taking care of their parents. Because ResponseLINK offers a high quality approach, they need to engage with their audience to alert them on the things they should care about when using these types of products. This includes a self-monitoring system (for uptime), medication reminders, and when something happens, a well-trained agent who will stay on the line with the senior until help arrives. There's a great set of ResponseLINK videos that discuss why adult children bought the system as an aid for their previously strong and independent parents. This video actually ranks higher than others that employ a fear based approach.

Thanks to Daya from WebGuild for inviting us to speak. Barbara Coll of WebMama did an excellent job of moderating with Cam Blazer and Kent Lindstrom and myself as panelist. She has a nice writeup on her blog about the session.

If you want a copy of my presentation - please let me know.

AAAAI Apieron Booth Picture

Here's a picture taken by Bryan Flaherty, Apieron VP of R&D on Sunday morning (3/16/2008). You can see some of our top players, Sal (sales) and Vivek (Marketing, previously Engineering). Of course, there's the Apieron Insight and the main heading: Now FDA Cleared!

Breakthrough Asthma Management Device

Apieron, Inc. Announces FDA Clearance of the Insight™ eNO System to Assist Physicians with Patient Asthma Management

Physician’s office system for measuring airway inflammation poised to transform asthma management for improved control.

MENLO PARK, CA, MARCH 17, 2008, Apieron, Inc. Apieron, Inc. (www.apieron.com) announced today that the Insight eNO system has received clearance to market by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The Insight eNO system measures exhaled nitric oxide (eNO) which is a well established indicator of airway inflammation and asthma control. The Insight system is a highly accurate device, expressly designed for the physician’s office. It is non-invasive, safe, easy to use, and provides results in less than a minute. Apieron’s unique biosensor detects trace amounts of nitric oxide molecules in a single human breath utilizing a proprietary technology. Current methods and techniques used to diagnose, monitor and treat asthma are costly, time-consuming and cumbersome. Physician office measurement of eNO is a much awaited breakthrough in medical technology that provides physicians with a reliable tool to measure their patient’s respiratory inflammation better than ever before. Measurement of eNO has also been shown to optimize medication therapy and improve compliance among patients with asthma.

William Berger, MD, Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, University of California, Irvine, and Mission Viejo Medical Center, Mission Viejo, California, stated, “In clinical studies with the Apieron Insight eNO monitor, I found the ability to easily and accurately measure eNO in the physician’s office to be a major advancement in my care for patients with persistent asthma.”

It is estimated that more than 20 million people in the U.S. suffer from asthma, making it one of the most common and costly of all diseases. In fact, every day in America 40,000 people miss school or work due to asthma and 5,000 people go to the emergency room due to an asthma attack. One-quarter of all emergency room visits are asthma related and asthma is the most common chronic childhood disease.

“We are pleased to offer physicians and their patients a reliable, accurate and affordable asthma measurement and management device,” said Rich Lotti, President and CEO of Apieron, Inc., “We believe this product will improve the standard of care for patients with asthma enabling physicians to optimize medical therapy for each patient.

"The availability of simple to use, accurate, and economically feasible eNO measurement devices now enables physicians to intelligently assess and manage the key pathologic feature of asthma, airway inflammation", said Peter B. Boggs, M.D., Clinical Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine, LSU School of Medicine, Shreveport, Louisiana. "Prior to the availability to measure eNO, assessing and managing airway inflammation was, for all practical purposes, little more than a guess! The ability to measure eNO in the physician's office is "one giant step" in the care of adults and children with asthma."

The Insight eNO system includes a small desktop monitor with an easy-to-read display, trend analysis capabilities and a user-friendly interface. The system uses disposable, single-use sensors to measure nitric oxide accurately and non-invasively in less than a minute. Disposable, single-use breath tubes make it hygienic and convenient for the user to exhale into the device. Patient data can be stored and maintained in unique patient cards for trend analysis or downloaded to a printer for insurers’ and patients’ files.

About Apieron Inc.
Apieron Inc. is a private, venture-backed medical device company based in Menlo Park, CA that was formed in early 2001 to develop a simple-to-use, non-invasive monitor for the measurement of exhaled nitric oxide (eNO) for the management of asthma. The Apieron biosensor technology platform utilizes a patented platform technology that allows for the highly sensitive detection of selected analytes like eNO. Apieron is committed to collaborating with physicians and patients to develop innovative medical solutions to improve quality of life and standards of care.

Refer Questions to:
Holly McGarraugh Apieron, Inc.
650-454-8101 (ph)
650-454-8190 (fax)

Apieron Receives FDA Approval

Today Apieron received notification of FDA approval for the new Apieron Insight eNO System. This was the result of a long journey for Bhairavi and myself. We were absolutely thrilled to hear the official word the day before AAAI in Philadephia. That means we can take orders for this product. We first started this quest in 2001 and are thrilled to get to this point. Finally, physicians can truly understand and manage asthma for the millions of people in the US and around the world that suffer from this disease.

We thank all those at Apieron who worked so hard to develop and commercialize the technology. You believed in us and put your heart into your work, spending countless hours in every phase of process: R&D, product & process development, clinical, regulatory, marketing, legal, reimbursement, finance, and manufacturing. So many partners worked with us on every phase - some for little more than the promise of a great dream. Our initial and current investors helped not only with money, but with time, commitment and expertise. We appreciate all your help and are excited about getting this in the hands of allergists, pulmonologists, pediatrians, GPs, nurses and technicians can make a huge difference for the 20 million asthma sufferers in the US.

Imagine the opportunity to create a brand new market with a revolutionary product. The Apieron Insight is the first step in turning the art of asthma management into a science.

So many people supported us that it will take 3 days of calls to thank everyone. This an amazing point because it removes the one risk that we could not control.

Now it's execution time - hit the the pedal to the metal!

Interesting Recession Chart

The stock market keeps dropping. This is a leading, though in this case belated sign of recession. This has been coming for some time as commodity prices and demand became overheated. Keeping interest rates so low for so long created a tremendous housing bubble that is affecting many. Overseas, globalization has resulted in rising wages, especially for skilled labor.

Check out this graph published in NYT's Freakonomics blog:


The graph indicates growth or decline in non-farm payroll. Down is bad, up is generally good. The gray bars are recession periods as defined by the National Bureau of Economic Research. I'm hoping that this does not last long, but we are crossing 0.1%.

What to do if you are in search marketing? As stated in a previous blog, I believe that those who are in the game will spend more here, because the results can be tracked at every stage. Most businesses need to invest in new customer acquisition, regardless of the economy. We have the people, process and technology to get them there.

Luckily for us, we have clients that help those in heavy debt like Bills.com or those concerned about foreclosure like Home Assure. We are also expanding in Southeast Asia, an area that is absolutely booming, and Europe, where the euro and pound are super strong. We also have some really cool ideas under wraps for tools and business concepts.

Security Gone Silly

Here's an interesting one. Yesterday, I went to check out Effinfunny and could not view some of the videos. After checking with a friend, it turned out that he (Sam) could run them just fine. However, Sam was outside my office. He said to check Revver.com and then MySpace. I got this error:

This site is blocked by the SonicWall Content Filter Service.

URL: http://www.myspace.com/

Reason for restriction: Forbidden Category "Adult/Mature Content"

Turns out that the guys at SonicWALL way overdid their firewall software. It's one thing if I was checking some bondage site - "research" in the Internet Marketing business - but c'mon. This is way over the top.

It's one thing to get searched three times while walking between terminals at Frankfurt or Heathrow and having to discombobulate yourself for all sorts of random fears. But this restricts hurts legimate businesses. Someone creates a site about Internet Marketing, posts videos in Revver and uses them as they video player, but finds out that many of his target audience can't see the video. Now people can always complain to IT, they aren't necessarily going to call their network admins and tell them to enable MySpace traffic.

So we've sent this to the SonicWALL folks. Hope they fix this. Hope other firms don't go security-silly.

Marketing During a Recession

John Quelch, Marketing Professor at Harvard Business School discussed how to market during a recession in his HBS Working Knowledge blog. He generally takes the point of view that this is a time to strengthen your advantage rather than cut back as it pays tremendous dividends in market share, customer and employee loyalty when the market turns around.

Amongst his points, the following reasonated with me:

Research your customer: since customers will be redefining their value equation, you need to learn more about which features are considered must-haves and the price elasticity curve.

Maintain marketing spending: this is a time where an advertiser can greater value for their marketing dollar. Customers are looking for reassurance during this time and the company that markets will appear even more solid before. In industries where brand value is high, this is a time to increase durable market share. If marketing spend must be cut, substitute less expensive forms of marketing - radio vs. TV, direct marketing over pure branding.

Adjust pricing tactics: rather than cutting list prices which create a new threshold that is difficult to raise during an upturn have more temporary price promotions, reduce thresholds for quantity discounts, extend credit to long-standing customers, and price smaller pack sizes more aggressively.

Emphasize core values: rather than cutting back on employees or services, this is a time to focus more energy on existing customers and retaining the best employees. This buys incredible loyalty for when the economy turns around.

Quelch also discussed finding ways to add the distribution channel, adjusting product portfolios and focusing on market shares. Most of these are strategies when you have a strong cash balances and favorable profit margins. It would be interesting to hear what he would cut if it was necessary, but I suspect it has a lot of do with researching the products value proposition and adjusting accordingly.

Idol Projection: David Archuleta Wins

Since I'm nearing 40, I can admit that I watch American Idol with the kids. I gotta tell you the winner is going to be.... David Archuleta. He's simply the best of a very good field of men - a group for the first time that is stronger than the women. The way he did the Lennon song, "Imagine" could have been a disaster because it is heartfelt and powerful in its simplicity. It does not, however, stretch a person vocally. David did it all. He has that connection with the audience. It was unbelievable. He's gotta win.

Reflections from India and Singapore

I just returned to the US after a whirlwind 1 week trip in India and Singapore. This time we accomplished quite a bit - reviews of progress with the Client Management, Delivery, Tech and Administrative Team along with some focused business development activity. Rather than recounting each aspect of the trip, here are some random observations...

- Singapore Airlines great, Euro/US airlines so-so to suck. I fly coach, it's shareholder money y'know, but nothing beats the service of Singapore. You are treated like a real person as opposed to cattle. Friendly stewardesses that get you whatever you want whenever you want. I'm not saying that because they choose so well or dress attractively. It's all the other stuff too: a menu with drinks to order and well-presented meals (silverware, no plastic) with ice cream desert, a 10 inch personal screen with a massive on-demand selection, little care packet and just a generally good attitude. Everything they give you is just a little better than other airlines. They don't make you feel bad that you went coach vs. business class. The price was similar to Lufthansa and United, but the aircraft was newer and fresher. Rather than previewing the latest chick flicks for my wife on old burned out cathode ray screens, I took advantage of 6 movies, 3 TV shows, 4 book summaries and 1 Hindi course in the 40 hours of travel.

- Mumbai airport super fast and low on hassle, Bangalore needs lots of help. Bangalore can't get a new international airport soon enough. I don't know how many deals have not happened as a result of a terrible airport experience. Bangalore, now the mouthful Bangaluru, is overcrowded to get your bags. It's like warfare as people create gridlock with baggage carts and pushy people trying to box out for their spot. Then you are accosted by taxi guys as you walk out. It's hard to find to the driver sent for you while these guys are in your face. Finally, there's a mess of a drive off spot where the accosting behavior continue. Normally, people from Bangalore are fairly shy and very service-oriented. This stuff just puts prospective deal makers off. In Mumbai this is not the case. People wait behind the line and you can sign up for a prepaid taxi before you leave the quieter confines of the airport. To get in, you don't have to endure long lines to get security-checked in. Or watch as self-important Europeans pay off baggage handlers to get them in front of the line. None of them actually carry bags, they just remind Indians of that Raj mentality - just needs to end. As you can tell, it burns me because I see the potential of a great country.

- Prices rising everywhere. It's not just gas prices in the US, it's salaries in India and costs in Singapore. The age of globalization has brought on an age of demand for skills and products - across the board. The cost of a movie ticket is about $5 in Mumbai - hey that's not far off. Though the seats were sold out, they were not filled. A lot of people can afford to blow off the movies. In Singapore, a lunch entree at a mid-level restaurant cost $10-15. It still costs less in India, though our night of drinks and snacks (no entree) at the posh Pause in Mumbai cost $300. Shots of Jagermeister costs just as much as the US.

- Salaries will meet the US slowdown...er recession. There are young adults in Bangalore that have known nothing but 20-100% salary increases year after year. With companies laying off 1000s in India due to a slowdown in growth and a rising rupee, harsh reality will set in. If you want to do better, do better work. Employers will not consider 4 months in the job as anything resembling real experience.

- Quality is rising. The level of foreign investment in India and Asia has raised quality expectations. In Japan, this took time before cars went from poor quality in the 60's to high quality in the 80's. In India, I've seen people respond very quickly. People are so eager to do well, I've seen turnarounds in as little as 2 months. As the quality expectation gets built in, competitiveness will need to rise in developed counties.

- US retail still the most efficient. I thought that prices for electronics in Singapore would be low due to its proximity to China. I thought that brand name clothing would be cheaper in India due to lower salaries. Same thing for hotel prices. A room at the Intercontinental in Mumbai goes for $500/night (and there's no pool), Dockers in Bangalore costs $40, a Canon HD video camcorder goes for $1200 vs. $660 on Amazon.com in Singapore. Except for groceries and souveniers, US retail is king.

- Cranes everywhere. I saw at least 20 cranes in the Mumbai skyline and at least a dozen in Singapore. I hope they've figured how to get people to all those places. I'm sure Singapore has - it's the model of hyperefficiency.

- Pollution...argh. It's a big deal in India. People really need to get involved and do something about it. Even with the price advantage of CNG and LPG, not enough people have converted. There are still too many rickshaws, scooters, cars, buses and trucks spewing all kinds of toxic stuff out of those tailpipes. I've stopped running in India - walking is enough indoors. I feel for all those kids. It took the US 30 years to turn it around. I hope India finds a way to do it as well. It's an amazing country that has progressed in so many ways. The people just have to want it.

- Singapore... an expat heaven. There are a lot US expats in Singapore. It's understandable why. Everything is first class - the dining, shopping, clubs, infrastructure. Singapore has an unbelievable airport with direct connections to everywhere in Asia. It's a super clean city where as long as you play by the rules you can do anything you want. There's are even government sanctioned brothels, something that the cab drivers are happy to tell you about. Take that, Thailand! I've seen the super-efficient business side. I hope in my next trip I see some of the soul.

- Happy to be home. My family let me sleep this weekend. Ready to hit the ground running.

Microsoft: Why is Quality So Hard?

You would think that with Microsoft bidding for Yahoo, I would be writing about my opinion of it (it's good if they can execute extremely well). Instead, I want to reflect on how we deal with such lower quality expectations with Microsoft dominated products. Today, at the San Jose Tech Museum, a number of exhibits were down due to application freezes, execution errors, or just the blue screen of death. This combines with my daily battle with Outlook - every time I don't clean out my Inbox, my whole computer freezes. Applications endlessly need to be restarted.

Why is this so difficult? You would think that a company that has been in business for 23 years would have found a way to make it's product bulletproof. If you talk to people in the company, there is a preponderance of brilliant people. Yet, after multiple iterations of the OS and Office application set, there are continuous quality and performance issues. Microsoft could tell the hardware folks exactly what they want. They could tell the peripheral and component makers exactly how they want products to interface with the OS. Yet, for whatever reason they don't do it well. Here's one example: my son has an XBox which we recently threw away because it crashed and will not start up again. Microsoft controls every aspect of that box. Yet his old (and new) Playstation keep motoring on.

Even upgrades confuse people. Our CFO is an Excel expert yet he has lost functionality with Excel 2007. On Outlook 2007, I still can't find the Picture toolbar to crop images. You'd think an upgrade would give you more multimedia functionality.

Now as an SEM agency, we love Microsoft because they provide an alternative network for search and advertising content, even though we suffer highly functional, low reliability interface (everyone in SEM knows what I'm talking about). However, I'd ask the good smart folks at Microsoft to spend their energy on 2 things - reliability and performance. That would be good for all of us and truly cement their hold on computing.

Search Spend Way Up Though Economy Flat

In a previous post, I discussed how SEM would actually do well in a recession. Well see this NY Time article. Key quotes:

"Google said it has seen no effect from a slowing economy on its advertising business, as it reported a 17 percent jump in profit and a 51 percent growth in revenue in the fourth quarter...

Remember, the US economy grew an anemic 0.6% in the 4th quarter.

“We have not seen any impact as of now,” said Eric E. Schmidt, Google’s chief executive, in an interview Thursday afternoon after the financial report was announced.

"Mr. Schmidt said he had yet to see weakness in any advertising category.

Bottom line: business has to advertise. Search is more results-oriented and therefore harder to cut in lean times.

Web 2.0 Conference - Social Media

See me speak during the WebGuild Web 2.0 conference. I will be on the Social Advertising and Social Media panel discussion at 1 PM. My focus with be on practical examples of how to use Web Outreach and Social Networks to grow awareness for entrepreneurial & growing companies. This will include Effinfunny and ResponseLINK.

Stop by and ask a question or 2.

Ted Kennedy Again

I was there when Ted Kennedy ran in 1980. My father loved JFK and felt tremendous affection for all things Kennedy. When he lost the NH primary and walked into the Manchester, NH office, he electrified the crowd. It was exciting to be 12 and feel the energy in the room, except...

In 1980, he upended the incumbent, Pres. Jimmy Carter, in a show of ultimate party disloyalty. Carter was dealing with a difficult economy, high interest rates, high inflation, and the Iran hostage crisis. I remember how he had all that momentum behind him until that article came out in Reader's Digest about Chappaquiddick incident. I'm sure that Kennedy did not make it easy for Carter's run when he fought it all the way to the convention.

Now he's considered a great senior Senator. No one doubts his dedication or his desire to help the working man, but to jump in over a tough campaign seems irrational. That's what primaries are all about. Get the tough stuff out there, so that people are battle ready for the general election. He has the right to advocate for whoever he wants, but to do it because of a hard fought primary?

The $150 Billion Waste of Money

Many are concerned about growing signs of a recession. The same administration that went on for years on a tax cutting and spending binge is now working with Congress to do a cash giveaway to get people to spend more money. Fuel prices are up. Biofuel demand is pushing up fuel prices up. The savings rate is negative. Inflation and unemployment are up. Would giving people a relatively small slug of cash spare us a recession? Does this make sense?

The real answer is no. $150 billion is small change in a $10 trillion economy. It is unlikely to move much of anything. People will buy some things and maybe that will help some folks, but it is not a consistent behavior over time. Consistently more money in people's pockets will lead to more spending, however is this the behavior we want? We've actually had a stimulus for some time. It the Iraq and Afghan war - to the tune of $1 trillion since 9/11. This money has flowed largely into the US economy to pay for military equipment and personnel.

What we are really doing is adding more debt to the economy. This spend-heavy generation has burdened our children to the tune of $29,000 of debt for every man, woman and child. We can't really just grow our way through it as the US is a mature economy with a long term growth rate of about 3%. We have underfunded Medicare and Social Security to such an extent that the real deficit is even greater if we used corporate accounting.

How did it happen?

Interest rates held down too low for too long + subprime fueled easy money and massive spending. People levered up on debt to go on a spending spree. They didn't read the fine print on their adjustable rate offers. This was exacerbated by tax cuts. They kept buying more expensive homes, some got into McMansions. Oil prices are 5x higher than just 3 years ago. To reduce oil consumption, the US is pushing ethanol, so that is impacting food prices. US spending on imports have led to massive growth in China, and to a lesser extent, in India. Salaries are rising. As Greenspan says, the price depressing weight of globalization is diminishing as overheated demand in fast growing developing economies raise import prices.

Now the bubble has popped. Homebuilding is way down with a massive amount of unsold inventory. Foreclosures are way way up. Inflation is finally recognized as rising in official reports. Worse, the subprime crisis has dramatically tightened lending. If this continue, people will not be able to refinance to lower rates. If the value of your house is down, no bank will lend you money even if you are carrying the load at a higher rate.

The US needs to move away from debt. We need to realize that we are a fully developed economy. Trying to grow out of debt just loads up obligations on future generations. The growth is just not fast enough to make sense. The US needs to be strong. Capital should not be used to prop up the US government, rather it should flow to private sources, lowering the cost of capital for all.

Moreover, savings should be encouraged, not spending. People who save can take risks, can start their own business or deal with an emergency without going to the government for a bailout.

So it's one thing if the Fed drops interest rates to spur growth. That's a significant macro effort as it impact everything from mortgage interest rate to corporate borrowing rates. A $150 billion giveaway leading to a slug of one time debt is not the answer.

It's time to get our house under control.

2008 Olympics Will Expose the Price of Growth

A recent NY Times about the Beijing smog discussed the concern of athletes about the impact of pollution on their ability to complete. The US team physiologist, Randy Wilber, is recommending that athletes where a mask to particulate filter as the Beijing air has pollutant 5x greater than WHO levels for safety. The marathon world-record holder Haile Gebrselassie has allergies, and the world’s No. 1 women’s tennis player Justine Henin has asthma.

I ran the Mumbai Marathon in 2007. I thought it would be exotic and kind of cool to run in the country where so much of our business was. The heat was one thing. The pollution was another. Even though Mumbai has oceanfront and the marathon was on a Sunday, it definitely had an impact on me as much time was 30 minutes slower than previous marathons. In addition my shoes had a clay like tint even though the streets were thoroughly clean.

The IOC should really think about where it stages the Olympics. Developing countries are great, especially since they provide hope and inspiration for the country's citizens. However, rapidly developing countries like China and India are willing to sacrifice the environment and their citizens' health for growth and prosperity. Remember the US clean-ups began in earnest as little as 40 years ago. Yet, that is no reason to sacrifice the health of athletes. As exciting as it is to have the Olympics in China, will it be worth watching great competitors ruin their health?

Advantages of Using a Marketing Agency

Market researchers like Forrester and iMarketer are estimating 20+% growth per year over the next 5 years. The field is changing rapidly with Google and Yahoo changing algorithms for natural and paid search. Social networking is creating rapid change in how companies can reach and retain potential customers.

With so much growth and change, should you go in-house or hire an agency? Depending on the size of the company and the ad budget, there is a mix of answers. If you are going to invest any decent level - at least $10,000/month, then having an agency in the mix is essential.

Here's why:

- Expertise: Search agencies have multiple clients frequently from a wide variety of industry. This creates strong bonds with search engines as well as a push to know as much as possible about the industry. We have clients in medical services, consumer products and software as a service. Due to our business volume, search engines beta test PPC algorithmic changes with us. Our own clients inform us of things they learn. New firms like blog rating and aggregation firms are contacting us. In addition, we are attending and presenting at the top industry forums.

- Technology investment: To ensure clients reach maximum potential, search firms invest in technology - either on their own tools or from tools firms. Due to experience with a variety of clients, agency teams can apply best practices from one industry to another and then embed that in technology. Clients could purchase the technology themselves, but unless they are very large will not know the underpinnings of it in detail. Imagine letting a black box manage your money without understanding how it works. I'd rather have a skilled operator who knows what the underlying algorithm are and how to modify them.

- Operational processes: The best firms have operationalized their processes and are continuously innovating. This allows the agency to provide top notch services along the wide range of services that make us search marketing. The range of competencies include online strategy, ad creative, media planning & buying, bid management, web technology & development, analytics and project management. There is serious complexity in getting the best people and getting them to work together efficiently and robustly. Each client has a different strategy or industry, therefore the process has to be robust enough to deliver results in a customized manner. We measure every step in detail to learn and improve.

- People and Turnover: Top marketing, technology and operational people are attracted to agencies because of the variety and the ability to be on the leading edge. They enjoy the training and the learning experience. In addition, there's the opportunity to try new things. Imagine getting paid to play on Facebook? Or developing cool algorithms to model bid pricing behavior? Or writing copy for rock band texting one day or source code optimization software another? Agencies can hire people across niche competencies and create a symphony through robust processes. Unless a company is large, hiring the variety of talents is impossible. Even then, how would you get the experience you get from variety. This is why almost every firm hires outside counsel. In addition if you hire in house, you are subject to turnover. While there is turnover in agencies, our processes are designed to retain client knowledge through multiple levels from executive to client manager to deliver manager. We know there will be turnover, so we build systems to retain knowledge.

- Value and cost: The best search agencies have operationalized their processes to provide value from top notch people, processes and technology. Well designed processes should provide a cost advantage vs. going in house. A copywriter will cost at least $50k/year. An SEO specialist starts at over $60k. With our worldwide infrastructure, we go a step further. We can provide a whole staff for the cost of a full-time equivalent knowledge worker. For many firms, our client manager is equivalent to VP of Online Marketing and reports to the President. On top of that there's a whole staff behind them that executes.

Are there reasons to go in-house? Yes, but not completely. Many times in larger companies it makes sense, especially if there are large groups to coordinate or multiple products. I would not recommend completely going in-house because of the loss of leverage from industry knowledge.

So these are the main advantages of a search marketing agency vs. going in-house: expertise, technology, process, people, value and cost. With so much change in this new exciting media form, you cannot afford not to use a top, results oriented agency.

The Position2 WebEx Makeover

Bill Ross, our Director of US Sales, was interviewed about how we used WebEx to improve our cost of acquisition and volume. They are doing this one day at a time. Here's our first day:

Recession and Search Marketing

There are growing signs of a recession in the US. The subprime crisis has caused banks to cut bank on lending while they revalue their assets and seek liquidity. As a result foreclosures are up and today the NY Times reports that spending has slowed significantly. The national savings rate is low to negative because people relied on increases in home equity to spend. It looks like the American spending machine is going to take a breather. High nergy prices have cascaded throughout the economy. Even food costs more as rising ethanol production is increasing the price for food throughout.

What does that mean for those in the search marketing space? Typically marketing budgets are the easy places to cut when sales drop. It tends to be a discretionary activity to slice back on to help hold the line on costs. For search marketing, this actually should not happen. Unlike other forms of marketing, it is search marketing is the most measurable method of marketing. You can study each step of the process from click to lead to close. You know the numbers at each stage of the process whether is click price, cost per lead or cost per sale.

Rather than spend on a significant TV campaign where returns are distant and difficult to measure or highway billboards, crank up your search marketing budget. Run more campaigns because you know what you are getting for your marketing dollar.

I'd love to get some feedback on this...

The $2500 People's Car

Today was a momentous day - the introduction of the Tata Nano - a car priced at $2500-3000 that will open up the auto market for the masses. This could be the 21st century Model T. I couldn't help but be excited by the fact that it took an Indian company to create this kind of fundamental innovation.

Here's a link to the article: http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/10/tata-nano-the-worlds-cheapest-car/

Here's my comment to much of the unusual criticism:

This is a huge milestone. I’m impressed that this came from an Indian company rather than a Chinese one. It demonstrates out-of-the-box thinking in opening up personal car travel for a whole new market.

As a person who frequently travels to India, this may not have all the terrible consequences that people imagine - much of which is hypocritical.

Rather than that family of four on a little scooter, this would be a heck of a lot safer. A lot of those scooters and rickshaws emit some ugly stuff. This would actually burn cleaner with a lot less soot. Maybe a lot of those rickshaw drivers would buy these vehicles instead allowing for safer, faster and cleaner travel (really hope they have a natural gas option). Vehicles may actually stay to their lane with fewer scooters and rickshaws. It’s a bit freaky when you see scooters, motorcycles, rickshaws and cars cram into every available inch of space.

People may now expect a better travel experience than before. There might be more demand for newer, cleaner burning buses and mass transit. There might be demand for better infrastructure and more effective traffic management.

120,000 rupees is a little over $3,000 dollars. It’s still expensive for many, but they have made vehicles affordable for a wide range of people. This would allow greater mobility and greater participation in the workforce. Right now, it is hard for a woman to work evening hours because the transport options are limited - understandably, scooters are not a great option at night. Hell, maybe we’ll buy a few so that our folks who work late can go home without a problem.

Congratulations to Tata!

Position2 Scores with Large Clients

Every firm wants to have a set of large brand names with multiple billions in revenues. It gives everyone a sense that the firm is solid and produces quality services. Well imagine waking up in the morning after running your business for 2 years and knowing that you had the following big names:

Johnson & Johnson
Northwestern Mutual
EBay
MIT
Reliance
Convergys
Cox & Kings


If you are from the US, you've definitely heard of the first 4. Reliance is a multi-billion dollar world wide conglomerate, Convergys, a multi-billion dollar IT services firm and Cox & Kings, a large UK-based India travel operator.

We also have a strong client base of fast growing companies with more added every month.

Hitting the Next Stage

I was sitting there with a group of CEOs discussing how to manage growth. How do you get to the next level? There are only so many hours in the day and people demand your time. This is such a fundamental issue. Many businesses hit a brick wall when they hit a particular size. They basically stop growing. This owner/founder is not able to hire a management team. He feels he's the only one who really cares about the other business. Everyone else is in it for the money, not the passion. He's tried to hire people in the past, but they just didn't work out.

The owner should look in the mirror. He is not acting as a CEO. He's afraid of ceding control. He's afraid that someone will take advantage of him and potentially lose his money. He's not willing to take the time to train his team, however qualified. It is first hard to hire a strong team. It is harder to work with them on making sure they understand their role. The hardest is letting go of decisions.

An interesting point was about deadlines. Some entrepreneurs don't typically like deadlines. They are working very hard to create something new. They can only work as hard as they can. They don't know what it's like to waste time. Many times they succeed because they are dedicated, however this is not scalable.

If you want to create a management team, you need dates. You need drivers who enjoy the motivation of deadlines. To make them stick, you need to hit them as well. You need to have incentives and consequences.

Imagine doing something one way for years, then changing by hiring sharp folks, ceding control and then changing the way you works.

This is why so few actually make it. It's hard to change, but the best know they need to mold themselves to each stage. Go from operational to strategic. Go from doer to the manager to the leader. Shift from becoming the operator to the teacher.

That's what it takes and you can do it.

A Great Day for America

This has been an exciting week for America. On January 3rd, Iowans voted for an African American - Sen. Barack Obama. On January 8th, New Hampshire voted for a woman - Sen. Hillary Clinton. This is the first time a woman and a minority have won a major primary or caucus in American history.

One day this will be commonplace. My daughter might have the realistic opportunity to run for President. She will not have to grow up with a glass ceiling. Can you imagine, not too long ago neither group had the right to vote. No matter what you believe, this is a historic day - one day of a historic year.

Bad Math Hits CNN

Americans need to learn better math. It's sad that kids are afraid of the stuff. It's scary when CNN allows bad math to get on TV. Roland Martin stated his analysis of the polling. There was a 9 point lead in the polls yesterday, however 15% was undecided. They broke towards Clinton's emotional appeal and swung the vote. See, no problem with the polling, it was the last minute undecideds.

Oh really, now how does that work? Clinton won by 2 points over Obama. She was down 9 points the day before. So 11 out of 15 or over 70% of the undecideds went for Clinton. Hmm... she won 39% of the vote overall.

That is just bad math. Anyone who understands statistics knows that the numbers don't work that way. It's clear that either the polls were wrong or Clinton's base was much stronger than projected.

C'mon, CNN stats guys, hit Martin over the head.

NH Presidential Debates

As a political junkie, I'm starting to spend even more time watching the process unfold - even more time than I normally would. I think it's cool that both sides are debating on the same night at the same place. The format is pretty open would candidates taking questions and pushing each other. This is a great way to see the democratic process unfold.

It's even cooler that the debate is being held at St. Anselm College. It is less than half a mile from where I lived in Goffstown, NH. I used to run by there all the time.

Now to watch, wish I could be in the room...

Iowa & New Hampshire - Will It Matter?

With this front loaded primary season and heavy spending by candidates and associated groups, you have to ask if any of this will matter to the 2008 Presidential race.

My answer is no. And I'm a New Hampshire boy - even wore my UNH shirt to Disney World today.

In the past Iowa and New Hampshire could set the table. Candidates could conduct retail-style politics, talking to small groups, honing their messages and building support. These states acted as filters for the rest of the country. Candidates would then move from state to state building support all the way into late summer conventions. There was a time where national conventions actually were interesting. There was drama - lots of battling over platforms and who the delegates should choose.

Then a bunch of states moved up their primaries. Iowa and New Hampshire still had influence. Now it would be hard to believe these states have any influence at all.

Before, the media hype would allow the winners to gain visibility. Lesser financed candidates would have time to raise money and build their organizations for the states following Iowa and New Hampshire. Iowa allowed people to see the power of the candidates organizations. New Hampshire would show how the general public responded.

I do not not see how that can happen today:

- First, it's just too early. Candidates are running starting in late 2006 - 2 years before the general election. Most people are not thinking about who's running in 2007. They are still in post-holiday mode before the primaries hit them over the head. Have any of them seen the rash of debates?

- It's all bunched up. Within 5 days of Iowa, there's New Hampshire. I still don't get how a caucus is in any way a representative way of electing someone, but 5 days is not enough for a victory in Iowa to influence anything in New Hampshire. I realize that the caucus has allowed predominantly white Midwestern citizens to get boondoggles for their farmers and their state, but c'mon. If you don't read the news for a day or 2, before you know it, New Hampshire is there. Even New Hampshire has little value. There are a bunch of big and little states that come in the next couple of weeks. Even though the DNC has tried to deny Michigan and Florida their delegates, winning in their states will matter.

- The national primary is Feb 5. It's over - 22 states including California and New York. After that does it really matter? Sure there's are other big states including Ohio and Pennsylvania in March and April, but if you are not close with a boatload of cash and organization, you are basically gunning for a VP or Cabinet post.

On the Democratic side, that means it's between Clinton and Obama. The Republican side is more confusing with Giuliani, Romney, McCain and maybe (though unlikely) Huckabee.

Let's focus the Democratic side to illustrate. As long as it is close for Clinton, Obama and Edwards in Iowa, Edwards is essentially done. While he will probably do well in South Carolina, he does not have the money or the organization when the big primaries hit. Obama and Clinton have locked up most of the endorsements, money and organization to reach voters. It is unlikely that Californians and New Yorkers will be interested in his message, because they won't even hear it. California has 30 million citizens and is a huge state. Clinton has raised over $100 million in 2007 - an incredible sum that gives hear tremendous reach. Obama has similar money.

As you can tell, I'm not a fan of the Iowa caucus or any hyper influential caucus. It's a confusing mess. What does getting a bunch of folks to sit in a room and argue for hours have to do with electing a President? It may work for passionate supporters and party veterans, but who is going to leave work early, go home and change, go to a caucus, figure out a complicated system run by people who sound like they know what they are doing and then drive home late at night? This is the same country where people had issues with punching a hole through a ballot.

At one time, it mattered just like when Senators were elected by state legislatures or when delegates actually had multiple votes at a convention. It's old and outmoded and not truly representative of our country. California was forced to put ethanol in gasoline - subsidized by price supports on corn and a straight-up 54 cents per gallon government handout.

Even Iowans feel disenfranchised by the system. Many have kids to care for or jobs that don't allow them to leave at night. Only 124,000 out of 2.9 million voters participated in the 2004 election. To learn more this article.

While I don't think New Hampshire is necessarily representative of California, at least it is a primary. Like California, there is some hi tech and med tech industry along with plenty of rural regions. The proximity to Massachusetts helps. However, with California less than a month away, it won't matter much anyways. I feel sorry for all those NH hotels and restaurants in 2012, because the party's over.

I liked the idea of the 4 state regional primary system. 4 small states representing distinct US regions voting around the same time, giving us a way to see the candidates a little closer than normal.

So who wins? Those candidates who can raise a ton of money and nail down support very early. Is this a good system? No, a pure media and money driven campaign means the ordinary citizen moves farther away from American democracy - not closer to it. It's just too bad.

But until people get really fired up, this is the way it's going to roll for a while.