Tag: ARPANET

Unintended influence

We are influenced most by our 2nd or 3rd degree connections.

I grew up hearing stories of the past (almost 2 million people died in the 1945 famine and how my great Aunt took my mom and siblings in since she had a tea plantation etc… my Anne Frank version). Consequently, I strongly believe in Paying Forward (I wouldn’t have been born later in the South if it hadn’t been for  great Aunt Dieu, my vertical 2nd connection).

Taking that a notch further, we benefit greatly from the courage of the Wright brothers (who braced themselves for the Beta-test of those early airplanes) to the soon ubiquitous RFID technology (which reduces the costs of inventory and supply).

ARPANET gave us access to a vast amount of data on the Web. Storify and Spotify help us sort them .

I saw an ad yesterday which spanned from horse carriage, to internal combustion engine, to today’s hybrid Infinity.

Even failed technologies contributed to our collective repertoire. Or failed states and statesmen (women).

I read about the passing of Madame Nhu (Vietnam’s Imelda Marcos, minus the shoes collection).

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/world/asia/27nhu.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

She was on a PR/shopping trip on Rodeo Drive when her brother-in-law’s regime collapsed, rendering her stateless.

Her unintended influence was more in modernizing fashion than in abortion ban.

The Ao Dai (long dress) during her time came without the collar (her casual-Friday version). She must have taken a page book from Paris Match and Life  (Audrey Hepburn). This week, we won’t go anywhere without seeing those Spring dresses and hats, coming to us from London.

Ironically, as France banned the veil and head covers, Britain welcomes back the hats (might you the security camera angle. These society ladies don’t do ATM or violate stop lights.)

Back to our 2nd and 3rd degree influence.  What key words will land searchers on our page? Will future anthropologists – or Third Generation Viet-American, conduct digital forensics, the way they do in China upon discovering a 2,000 year-old Mummy, to find our “upload” an unintended influence?

I only know that small act of kindness to relatives and people in need, as happened once in my extended families, enabled our migration to south Vietnam (instead of being counted among the 2 million deaths). For my turn at unintended influence, I promise not to say things like “the monks are welcome to barbecue themselves” ( 1963 monk self-immolation to protest religious persecution).

It’s hard to earn a good byline these days. At least in one case, the NY congressman whose half-naked pic went viral, resigned immediately. Madame Nhu’s unintended influence, however, was to encourage Vietnamese women to “stick their necks out” during war-time. The same thing happened to American women during the two World Wars: replacing the men who left the factory for the front.

 

Marketing genius

Charlie Chaplin would keep filming until he got it perfect (100:1 filming ratio to get the ladder to swing just right etc…).

In “the Kid“, the little girl would throw rocks at windows, while our handyman walks right behind to fix them.

Gillette would give away razors just to sell the blades (HP has done the same with its ink).

Levis would sell jeans during the Gold Rush, along with those who profited by selling picks and pickaxes.

Sony founder had his reps wear bigger shirt pockets to fit his “portable” radios (showmanship par excellence).

Hyundai founder tried his hands at the Pony, while Detroit was busy with its Pinto.

Pepsi had its “taste test” with blindfolded customers, while Wendy used little old lady for “where is the beef” campaign.

Barnes and Nobles followed Moses down the mountain, saying “let my people read” (beyond the tablets).

Woodstock organizers did the same when they decided to “let my people in”.

Costco built its shopping carts bigger than others (as a results, people bought more paper products) while Cisco bought up its competitors to solve innovator’s dilemma.

Apple launched its I-phone, with long lines wrapped around New York and San Francisco’s street corners. Chinese-Americans would buy them in bulk to stock up for their next suit-case entrepreneurial trip (where do they think the phones were first manufactured in?).

And the mother of them all is Facebook, where out of our own volition, we volunteer our intimate information, information we wouldn’t tell our mothers, so they can help advertisers target the right kind of demographics.

Marketing genius! They know about us more than we do ourselves.

Facebook went from on-campus to off-campus, from Tulane to Tunisia and flourished in an era of change, from Apartheid to ARPANET. The tiger is out of the cage, with its long tail. Nothing is for free. I learned that after my first 5 minutes of silent movie (wheeled around on the back seat of the peddler’s bicycle). Charlie Chaplin was timeless.

We all had our shares of being had by marketing genius, willingly especially during Super Bowl, the Davos of them all.