David Erasmus

What is next?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13308452

Maybe? Any other thoughts?

I sent my first text from my Dads Startac when I was in year 7 at school to the girl I fancied on her Dads phone.

It took me about 10 minutes to get about 12 words out, it was really fun though and more importantly I looked very cool.

The Penetration of SMS is bonkers with almost every single person in the UK using it on a regular basis and have been for many years.

Everyday I talk to people about mobile payments and mobile marketing and the only words I hear are ‘NFC, Carriers, Google and Apps’

The same old Rich Vs Reach argument comes up – very boring.

It seems to me that the one under utilized medium of communication and payment is the intimate SMS channel that we are all so comfortable, familiar with and in many cases have a strong affection for.

Once businesses figure out how to use SMS marketing effectively with STRICTLY opt in only messages that dove tail nicely into seemless mobile web experiences integrated with video content and 1 click payments we will see the demand for SMS go up dramatically from consumers.

It is a user experience that gives both REACH and RICH experiences engaging both Smart and Non-Smart phone users.

I HATE it when dominoes sent me flipping 2 for 1 Texts on Fridays, it is invasive and an abuse of data I gave them for a completely different reason. They have in my opinion missed the boat on SMS and I dislike them more every time they do it.

On the other hand though Imagine U2 are playing a secret gig at Ronny Scotts in London and there will be 100 tickets on sale, you will WANT to hand over your mobile number to be interrupted just once in whatever you are doing to take action and purchase. There is no better platform than SMS to do this.

At the moment I don’t trust people with my mobile number but there is trust based gap to be filled and the winner will probably be rich.

SMS is a dark under utilised horse. My guess, it won’t stay that way for long.

(I Googled : ‘odd couple’ and got this. It is not relevant but brought me joy)

Some of my friends in Roehampton run an amazing charity called Regenerate working with kids in Gangs and street culture.

I have been privileged enough to join them in trips away to Kenya and Zambia, giving these young guys a chance to get out of their context and do some great work in schools and orphanages. It is a completely life changing experience.

The volunteers that help regenerate do their work are fantastic at mentoring these young people and have built amazing relationships.

I remember looking once though and thinking “why on earth does this cool gang kid bother talking to this white haired, out of touch, boring old person.” (I just thought it I didn’t say it )

It bothered me for a while but then I realised….It is simple, this is one of the only people in his life that have continually bothered to turn up despite how he acts towards them.

When I realised this I felt empowered as the Volunteer in question was not accepted on any grounds other than continuing to communicate with his mere presence. ANYONE can do the same.

In a busy Mobile world full of Facebook events, invasive notifications and constant better offers, just turning up speaks louder than anything else.

Our time and presence is the one commodity we cannot fake, replicate, digitise or blag.

No matter what your Love Language of preference is, I think that as the world gets busier and busier quality time is harder to find and therefore increasing in everyone’s priority list.

Excuses, SMS, FB Messages and emails are cheap.

Turning up is expensive and VALUABLE

This like button thing is very interesting.

You click a thumbs up picture and it gets added in 2 places… To the Musician’s page you have agreed to like and on YOUR facebook profile.

This concept is simple but vitally important.

We want to build up our preferences and living journey, but we are not prepared to break “our flow”.

We don’t want to be whisked off to another site or a different page especially if we have to login.

We want instant action but without having to waste a second, we want to look back and see all the things we have enjoyed, and most importantly we want to prove to our friends that we are cool by letting them see what we have liked.

I am currently enjoying / getting frustrated trying to figure out how else this paradigm can be utilised to connect with the rising generation in a meaningful way.

Any thoughts?

I love this presentation.

What Ben is saying here is going to mess with my head all night.

I think we all agree that the change is to Mobile and Cloud.

The question for me is what is the RESULT of the change of the Mobile and Cloud world.

horowitz