Tag: Marconi

With a smile

Long ago, when we still used snail mail, the lyrics went like this ” and seal with a kiss” (w/ lipstick marks).

That’s analog. Now it’s digital. How are  we going to add that something special? smiley for non-verbal?

Communication has been intrusive and impersonal if not dehumanizing.

No way around this. We sign off with “Best Regards” etc… but it’s there BEFORE we compose the  e mail.

So, respectfully speaking, I don’t think we meant “Best Regards” to the recipient (s) at all.

Comes in-mail, designed to cut through the chase.

No heading, no closing. Voila. Chat without waiting for a reply.

No feedback. Just telegram format. Period.

We have traversed a long way since Marconi e.g. telegraph, telegram, telephone, television, beeper, skypager, voicemail,  dictaphone, email, text, chat, in-mail, instagram and Likes.

None of the above allows for “seal with a kiss”.

Lovers send each other chocolate, flowers and letters.

Business people, gifts and hopefully, Thank-You cards (Go Hallmarks).

But lately, we are at a loss. Etiquette in the time of E-mail.

Best business communication is brief, to the point and respectful (of recipient’s time and intelligence).

So, while I rail like  Andy Rooney about “two-prong plugs in a three-prong society”, I challenge you to still “seal with a smile”. That unseen smile is for you as much as it is for them. It’s a joy to think of someone and spend time sending a short note, albeit in-mail. Might as well “pour your heart into it” like they say at Starbucks. (Smile:))

Marconi and Marcom

In the late 80’s, PacTel Cellular boasted seamless connection from San Francisco to San Diego. That is, if you had a battery pack to power the wireless devices (MicroTac? Motorola).

Remember this was pre-Twitter days.

Now it’s 12/12/12 and the Mayan’s calendar is soon running out.

Back when Marconi was experimenting with sending signals across the Atlantic, skeptics had a field day (light and signals traverse in a straight line, and thanks to Columbus, we know the Earth is round. Good luck Marconi!).

Those guys obviously did not play pool (angling and bouncing).

Putting all these elements together. We got Marcom.

The art of positioning your company, your brand and image for the longer term.

Many-step flow. Diffusion of innovation. Crowd-source and users’ Likes.

It takes time for people to adopt.  When MCI tried to attach a piece of equipment to the ATT network, it got stalled and deterred.  Jack Goeken did not give up.

He was trying to help truck-to-truck short-way communicate from St Louis to Chicago.  And in Marconi’s case,   ships-to-shores communication. Both faced hard resistance (today’s equivalence of “Who killed the EV?”).

That was before peering, inter-operability and other engineering agreements.

Currently, we still have to “unlock” an I-phone.  People were put in “voicemail jail” etc… Technology and man’s freedom.

IP issues and the trajectory of human achievement and advancement.

Think back to the age of gramaphones. And fast forward to the i-pod Shuffle.

Then you can see the full sweep of tech (just in sound recording and reproduction).

Marconi sent signals across the pond. Bell asked “Mr Watson, come here“.

Now we got Youtube and “Concert for Sandy Relief“.

Put together a Marcom plan for yourself, your family and your company.

It’s our modern-day equivalend of yesterday’s black/white photo albums. Our heritage in the making.

Enjoy your Christmas wireless experience. Don’t forget those trailblazers. It’s heart-throbbing to finance those expeditions, today’s equivalence of Tesla and Virgin’s space tourism.

But then, without the likes, we would still be listening to each other from those gramaphones.