Naviblog latest

Hey there, been a while, innit? For all of those that thought we were down and out... we're back in it and heading up.

I'm currently in Paris for some interesting stuff that will be coming up early next year, but more on that in 2008. A lot of things happening behind the scenes at Naviblog, a lot of projects that are using our platform but not in the typical mobile LBS mentality, nor in the this-is-my-blog-alaMySpace.

There is a lot of talk around me recently on micro-personalisation, auto-generated ad-hoc communities of interest, new forms of search, emotive web manipulation, novel man-machine interface design.

There is definitely a move away from all the web 2.0. web 3.0, mobile 2.0 and all that. I feel we are entering a phase of experimentation with more intelligent forms of online manipulation and community.

As always, there is the problem of navel-gazing 2.0 versus irrelevant commercial editorial content, but this problem is there regardless of the publisher ecosystem. Very interesting movements generally.

I am astonished how quickly things are moving mobile-wise in Europe (finally!): there's going to be some serious work to do in Japan if the Europeans catch up with Japan in terms of agency creative work. They have the economies of scale, the price differentials for near-shoring dev work quickly that Japan doesn't, and the tech ecosystem is coming up to scratch fairly fast.

I think that Japanese do not realise how quickly things are heating up, but then again, what would they do about it even if they did know? Market-wise things are pretty locked down in Japan, but can Japan afford to lock down innovation? With more stability comes less innovation. Is it possible that as the mobile world over-matures in Japan, that other markets will both copy Japanese market models and innovate beyond it?

Laurels should not be sat on. They don't like being sat on. Japan beware.

MK

Naviblog moves to Yebisu Garden Place offices

Naviblog has moved! As of August 20, 2007, the offices of Naviblog Corporation have moved to more spacious offices on Yebisu Garden Place's 18th Floor. Please update your address books with our latest contact information, as below. We look forward to welcoming you to our new offices in the near future.

Naviblog Corporation
Level 18, Yebisu Garden Place Tower,
4-20-3 Ebisu, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-6018
See our website's top page for our new telephone and fax information.
www.naviblog.jp

Access to our office:
The closest stations are the JR Ebisu and Metro Hibiya Line Ebisu stations.
5 minute walk from Ebisu Station*, JR line, East exit.
8 minute walk from Ebisu Station*, Metro Hibiya line, Exit 1.
* A covered moving sidewalk conveys passengers quickly to Yebisu Garden Place.

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事務所移転のお知らせ！2007年8月20日付で、株式会社NAVIBLOGが恵比寿ガーデンプレイス18階の広いオフィスに移転しました。移転に伴い住所及び電話番号が変わります。お手数をお掛けいたしますが、下記内容にてご登録変更くださいますようお願いいたします。

〒150-6018
東京都渋谷区恵比寿4-20-3
恵比寿ガーデンプレイスタワー18階
株式会社NAVIBLOG
TEL/FAXに関しては、弊社HPトップページをご覧ください。
www.naviblog.jp

アクセス方法：
JR線 恵比寿駅* 東口より徒歩5分
地下鉄日比谷線 恵比寿駅*出口より徒歩8 分
*動く通路「恵比寿スカイウォーク」で約5分。雨の日でも傘なしで濡れずにアクセスできます。

Diversity, bees and a broken rudder

Having seen An Inconvenient Truth over the weekend, and with the torrential floods over in the UK this last week, coming across this article entitled "Resilience" rang a bell. It talks about the importance of diversity/redundancy (whether you look at it from an assets standpoint or an efficiency standpoint) in an ecological system. Taking the example of the collapse of bee colonies, he points to the decreasing gene pool available in our mass-market food production agromodels, the decreasing gene pool in the fauna and flora that makes up the energy pyramid of raw to processed food, and our decreasing ability to limit antigens/pathogens making their way from monoculture production to our dinner plate.

Talking to Eriko over the weekend about the application of this to business, I remembered reading about the pros and cons of Six Sigma efficiency versus creative innovation in a McKinsey Quarterly article, or maybe on this old BusinessWeek article on GE CEO Immelt and his new creativity thing... I can't remember which for sure.

Six Sigma weeds out the causes of failure, while innovation embraces failure as a rule. When you're looking for something out of the box, don't look at Six Sigma. When you're looking at operational efficiency, don't reach for brainstorming and venture businesses.

At the time, I suggested a new company model that has a marketing and strategy process that is creativity-centric and an execution half that is process efficiency-centric. Because efficiency isn't going anywhere any time soon, just efficiency doesn't get you anywhere if you don't think laterally when competition heats up.

A good example that is one of Mike's favorites he always bugs me with: I was showing off my yachting prowess to GF down South of Tokyo in Zushi, out in the bay. Balmy sunshine, calm seas, nice breeze, so far so good. Then suddenly it gets cloudy, wind picks up and changes direction every few minutes, the sea gets choppy and then the rudder handle breaks. You're just outside the bay area, not enough to paddle back, but if you don't move you'll be carried out further into the bay by the slow currents tugging at the vessel. Solution? Lashed the two components of the rudder handle together with spare elastic band to simulate the handle, then steadied the handle with right hand and coerced the ship's sails slowly back to the harbour with the left. Get too much wind, the vessel speeds up, do one zigzag in the wrong direction and the elastic goes then you're in trouble. Catch too much slack and you may enter the "dead zone", where each time you try to push your boat left or right to get some wind, the wind pushes you back to the area where you can't catch any.

Eventually, I got back to the harbour, and only told GF that we were heading back early, she told me later that nothing seemed out of place, but I was scared out of my wits that any one thing could kick this plan out and we'd be left waving around for help. Out-of-the box and in-the-box definitely go hand in hand.

Maybe we need to build an industrial system that allows for more of the former while holding on to the knowledge of the latter. One never goes without the other.

--Mandali

Naviblog featured in UK marketing magazine

Web-based UK marketing magazine mad.co.uk has featured Naviblog and its Guinness Navi product as part of its latest article on mobile marketing services.

In a phone interview with co-founder Michael Harris, the article bills Naviblog's Guinness Navi service as a "next-generation service [...where] in all cases the search process is reduced to one click". The report goes on to point out that "Japan passed the 100m mobile subscriber" level a few months ago, so "innovation is now about business models and marketing tactics, as opposed to technical features and functions"... We couldn't agree more.

See the article for more: click here or Google cache here.

DJ Mandali - “Soundtrax Rock”

It all started with a fateful meeting online with an article on Iggy and the Stooges, followed by another fateful trip down to Shinjuku's southside Tower Records store on an otherwise nondescript Sunday afternoon. Idling through the aisles, before I knew it I was faced with what is probably the best UK garage/punk band ever, the Bang! Bang! The rest is a vague recollection of stomping around Shinjuku with random people on the kerb...

This mix is fully soundtrack-based, from the Brothers of the Head's Bang! Bang! musico-mentary soundtrack, to Samuel Jackson's latest Wutang-drenched anime flick Afrosamurai, or offbeat movie Babel's strings-and-piano masterpiece. You'd think a soundtrack would be purely an atmospheric, dramatic tension-led, orchestral affair... well, those gilded days are officially over. GZA. Big Daddy Kane. Stone Mecca. The Bang! Bang! Ryuichi Sakamoto. Susumu Yokota. Welcome to Soundtrax Rock. Time to mosh.

DJ Mandali

Naviblog FM hits no.2 on the Electro charts!

Listening to our very own Naviblog FM yesterday, with the ever-faithful Naviblog FM player widget sitting on my desktop. Checking out our guest DJ this week - DJ Tornado Kicks - with his new "British Punch" mix, listeners have been piling in over the last few days, making our FM radio station hit the no.2 spot worldwide for electronica and related music genres.

I mean, up against the likes of Soma FM? You gotta be kidding! It seems Naviblog FM is reaching to new heights, and nothing's getting in our way. Respect to DJ TKs. Keep them grooving!

Naviblog and Diageo release Guinness Navi

TOKYO, March 22, 2007: Diageo Japan K.K. (1) announced today the launch of its one-click mobile pub search service “Guinness Navi” on March 17, 2007. The new service was developed by Naviblog Corporation (2), based on their award-winning Naviblog platform.

Guinness Navi allows users to search nearby Guinness outlets easily with their mobile phone, based on the user's location. Guinness Navi is the first service to offer a branded mobile search for food and beverages. Although the service is currently restricted to Irish pub search within Tokyo's 23 wards, it plans to increase its scope to other areas, and to dining bars, local bars and other outlets.

Guinness Navi is extremely easy to use: the user reads in the specified QR barcode on their mobile phone to reach the service's top page, then clicks on the link there. The service then reads the user's location and plots the closest Guinness participating outlets on a mobile map. The service requires no downloads, installs or updates.

Current map search services require the user to click through a number of screens to reach the desired local search result, resulting in long search times. As the new Guinness Navi system is compatible with all locational technologies (from antenna triangulation/cell ID, to GPS, WiFi and direct address input), the search process is reduced to one click. The service can be used by users on Japan's 3 largest mobile phone operators (NTT Docomo, KDDI, Softbank), reaching a majority of users in the Tokyo metropolis.

Opening its website at www.guinness.jp in fall 2006, Guinness is actively pursuing digital marketing activities, including the launch of this new Guinness Navi service.

(1) About Diageo Japan K.K.
Diageo Japan (CEO: Paul Gulliver) is the 100%-owned Japanese subsidiary of London-based Diageo Plc. Diageo is the world's leading premium drinks business, and owner of numerous premium beer, spirits and wine brands. See www.diageo.com for more.

(2) About Naviblog Corporation
Naviblog (CEO: Mandali Khalesi) is a Tokyo-based mobile marketing firm that provides branded marketing solutions to consumer brands, digital advertising agencies, and mobile operators worldwide. It is a Red Herring 100 company, with its award-winning Naviblog mobile search platform. See www.naviblog.jp for more.

NaviblogFM: DJ Tornado Kicks - “British Punch”

Just click and listen, there's no better explanation because it's 1000% pure English.

I was pretty amazed though, that there is still so much more to learn from their leading style and fashion by time and generation...

DJ Tornado Kicks


Well, he's back...

After a short absence from the Naviblog FM studios, our favorite guest DJ, DJ TKs, is back on the scene. This time he is weighing in with his super-cool, 1000% pure British playlist. We'll start out with Side A, then head over to the B side in a few days...

Honestly speaking, DJ TKs isn't some hulking body-building type so it amazes me how he was able to carry all this fucking music over to the studios (okay, I admit, he used one of those large capacity USB HD's). I seriously doubt if you'll hear the same song twice... yes, that many songs. This is one playlist not to be taken lightly... totally smoking.

Hey, he wouldn't be DJ TKs if we expected anything less... so, like DJ TKs said, "just click and listen!"

DJ Mike (the.ex.hipster)

Robert Mugabe: When will you get yours?

The news coming out of Zimbabwe for the past few years has gone from absurd to downright appalling...

I wonder if this is what Bob Marley had envisioned for once a great country when he sang more than twenty-five years ago at Rufaro Stadium celebrating Zimbabwe's independence.

Every man gotta right to decide his own destiny,
And in this judgement there is no partiality.
So arm in arms, with arms, well fight this little struggle,
cause thats the only way we can overcome our little trouble.
-- Bob Marley, Zimbabwe

Yet another beating of the same opposition members in the span of a week, in the airport no less... read here.

As an African-American, my first thoughts are, "what the hell is wrong with those people?". Those people referring to African leaders like Mugabe who continue holding Africans back and downtrodden, and for what? Is it control? Is it money and the good life for themselves? Is it just plain ignorance? Me, I kinda think its the latter and it really pisses me off.

I think its definitely time for the "old man" to go... he's caused enough pain and suffering with his king of jungle antics. If I were to hold an audience with Mugabe, I'd probably put it to him like this:

Mugabe, for the sake of your people, please just find a hole to crawl into until you take your last breath. Instead of moving your people forward by 25 years, you have moved them back by 50 years. You tend to lay blame at the feet of the white man for your short-comings as a president and as a man entrusted to help the weak of your country. Your "land grab" policies were doomed from the onset and only used a polictical tool, and for what? With the way you steal elections, why would you need to use the land grab as a political tool? It just doesn't make sense to me...

Haven't you heard that beating of opponents with metal bars is barbaric and not acceptable in this day and age? Haven't you heard that Africans are sick and tired of guys like you who only serve to prolong their suffering? Do you have any idea what kind of image you portray to the rest of the civilized world? Its certainly not an image of being civil... and that reflects on all Blacks.

Where are groups and people who make up the African Union? Where are these people who are suppose to stand for positive change on the African continent? Thabo Mbeki, where are you? Why are you not being more vocal towards the Zimbabwe mad-man Mugabe? All you guys in my book are worthless if you are not willing to stand up to this guy...

It will be a joyous day when this tyrant no longer exists either in Zimbabwe's politics or on this earth...

- Mike

Peace out...

Naviblog checks: PSB on micro-targeting or the brand "soft-sell"

Reading a very interesting piece by PSB on the WPP's website on what they call micro-targeting. Interestingly, Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates (PSB) are originally pollsters that are now turning from the political targeting and polling analytics scene, to the branding and new media marketing industry.

The article reads quite well, with a number of insights, such as an 11-step checklist for micro-targeting efforts, as well as a case study on increasing user retention for a telecom company. This kind of reminds me of what I was talking about at the Tokyo Entrepreneur's Summit last week when a member of the press asked me, what comes next for mobile advertising? Is it banners? Is it coupons? I said that it was the end of the brand "hard-sell", the beginning of an experiential "soft-sell".

The real answer is targeted promotion based on psychometric behaviour analytics sourced from search and blog statistics. I also suggested mobile product placement within an ad or a service, I suggested auto-affiliation on info displayed within a page. These are all things that can be done to drive marketing activities on the mobile and the web.

The authors note however that no matter how well you try to setup these micro-targeting campaigns, "[...]many highly experienced, prominent and successful PR and marketing people both on the client side and in agencies lack the analytical skills and understanding to properly design and lead a micro-targeting project."

I would go even further and say that you not only need the right people, but more importantly you need to have a platform that collects and analyses this kind of data and then bases incrementally better conclusions based on a recurring analysis loop. Naviblog's location-based blogging platform could play this role, and allow even agencies and professionals that lack the ability to design such a project, to gather relevant data and act on it accordingly.

Naviblog CEO to speak at Entrepreneurs Summit

The Dreamgate Tokyo Entrepreneur Summit event, to take place on Sunday March 11, is designed to get more young men and women to shed their ties to the 9-5 job and become entrepreneurs in their own right. Naviblog CEO Mandali Khalesi will be speaking at the “Future of mobile business” roundtable.

Date: Sunday March 11, 2007; doors open at 3.30pm, starts at 4pm
Entry: Free
Location: Akasaka Prince Hotel, Goshikinoma Bldg.
Address: Kioi-cho 1-2, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Access: Akasaka-Mitsuke station (Corridor D, Kioi-cho direction) and Nagata-cho stations (Exit 9a) are the closest. For other forms of transport, see here.
Map: Click here.

The event will connect current and aspiring entrepreneurs with 50 of Japan's leading venture entrepreneurs. From Macromill's Sugimoto to Baidu's Li, from Tully's Coffee chain's Matsuda to KLab's Sanada, you'll be in good company. For more information on the event, see the event website. For press enquiries and interview bookings, please contact info@naviblog.jp.

Naviblog featured in French IT news site

In well-known French news site, Journal du Net, that is geared to IT professionals and developers, Naviblog was featured in an article entitled “Mashups: what you need to know”. The article focuses less on web 2.0-like mashup products, but rather on the new business models and ecosystems that they foster.

In a response to “who are the most popular mashups?”, the article mentions Google and Amazon and how their API fostered the adoption of their technologies worldwide, followed by Naviblog in the mobile space, for leveraging the power of consumer-generated media with maps. See the rest of the article here.

Naviblog checks: The hottest Afrosamurai amv ever

A very cool composition from recent Samuel Jackson anime flick... equal parts tongue-in-cheek gory Tarentino and damn amazing graphics.

Not only can I not wait for the DVD, the AMV music played over the scene is perfect. Not too Japanesey, not all-out heavy drums, just dead on. Check it here.

Popular Chinese blog interviews Naviblog CEO

Popular China business blog Danwei.org recently released an interview with Naviblog CEO, Mandali Khalesi, on the future of mobile marketing in China. Having visited, studied and worked in China as early as 1994, Mandali has a unique overview of the changes seen in the transition from traditional to user-driven marketing, over the last 10 years.

After the success of Naviblog trials on the China Unicom network in summer 2006, and winning the Red Herring 100 award, Naviblog is well-positioned to harness user-driven mobile marketing in China. Find out more: read the article, or hear the interview here.