Adotas.com wrote this afternooon about a report released by The Entertainment Software Association released today, Videogames in the 21st Century: Economic Contributions of the US Entertainment Industry.

• US videogame software industry growth exceeded 17 percent on an annual basis during 2003-04 and 2005-06. This is compared to US economic growth of less than 4 percent for the same years.
• The US entertainment software industry’s value added to US Gross Domestic Product was $3.8 billion.
• Direct employment grew at a rate of 4.4 percent annually in 2002 through 2006 for the US software publishing industry.
• The report said that the overall US entertainment software publishing industry directly employs over 24,000 in 31 states, with average compensation per employee (including wages, salaries, pensions, insurance, etc.) of $92,000 in 2006.

Obviously, the industry is huge, employs tons of people, pays them well and adds to the USGDP. 

It is interesting that the Scientific American Mind (12/07-1/08 issue) on newstands now has an article on boredom.  What’s boredom have to do with video games?  Isn’t that what you give a kid when he/she utters those horrible words, ”I’m bored…”?

Here’s the SA quote, “Encouraging children to entertain themselves in mentally active and imaginative ways and to avoid passive, quick-fix entertainment could also reduce boredom.  ‘We provide children lots of entertainment in the form of television and iPods to prevent them from developing their inner skills to contend with boredom,’ Sundberg says.”   (Psychologist Norman D. Sundberg, Univ. of Oregon, has been studying boredom and with collegue developed definitive boredom research and related tests.)

It’s interesting that both items are in the public eye at the same time.   You can guess the bottom line… get outdoors, travel, ride your bike, go to a concert, climb a mountain & slide down, do something — in addition to playing SSX Tricky.  It seems like everything is good for you – in moderation.  

But, if you never play video games and start, is it good for your brain because it’s different??

I was cursing PR guy & author Peter Shankman Monday night.  I had taken his advice (given in a recent Business Marketing Assn. seminar). I drove a different way to work and parked in a different spot.  Seems simple enough, right?

Well, on Monday night it was cold and rainy.  And I couldn’t find my car!  Slogging through puddles, rain in my face, wind blowing down my neck…  Thanks for the suggestion, Peter.  If I had parked in my “normal” spot I, and my new shoes, would be dry.

It all came full circle on Tuesday.  I came across an article in Prevention  (Pg. 125, 12/07 Issue).  It said, “If you seek out new experiences throughout life, your brain will keep growing – sprouting new cells (neurons) and the branches between them (dendrites) – no matter your age.”

Nice!  But, can parking in a different spot (or walking around in wet Etnies) really help?  Yes, according to the article.  “Everyday novelty – even seeming inconsequential acts – can benefit your brain and literally expand your mind.”

OK, Peter, you’re forgiven (AND you’re right)!

 When I was a teenager I had a Steve Martin album.  One of the jokes on the 33rpm record went something like this… 

People ask me all the time, “Steve Martin, how can you be so funny”  Well, I say, “Each morning I put a slice of baloney in each of my shoes.  And then, I feel funny.”

And his first movie was called “The Jerk”….

You know how when you have a Tercel you suddenly notice how many Toyota Tercels there are out there on the road…??  Well, Adotas.com pushed me over the line last week with 1%.  I’ve been noticing an abundance of the percentage of 1 lately.  1% has been popping up in my reality again and again. 

First case:  Happened across a very interesting article on Church of the Consumer blog that reminded me that a 1% patch is “worn over the heart by members of motorcycle clubs that celebrate their outlaw status from mainstream motorcycle society. They call themselves the ‘One Percenters.’”  This phrase supposedly came out of an out-of-control motorcycle event in California back in 1947.  Now, that piqued my interest….

2nd case: Was at a Business Marketing Assn. meeting in Newark, NJ in Sept.  In his presentation that evening, Aaron Kahlow of BusinessOnLine noted that only 1% of Internet users were “contributors,” that is, of all folks using the WWW only 1% wrote blogs, added to wikis, participated in social networking or entered comments on any website.  Is that number true??  Damn rebels!

3rd case: Transworld Business, in the Oct. issue (page 40), covered action sport retailer UNIV.  UNIV’s philosphy is to sell to the absolute core of the core of the action sports/fashion customer instead of the “mass” alternative (if there could be such a thing – jumbo shrimp anyone??) audience (I.E. Volcom, Hurley, OP, etc.).  Mangum, one of UNIV’s owners is quoted in the article, “Some marketing genius came up with the theory that between one and ten percent of the population that are the ‘tastemakers’ or the ‘trendsetters.’  Those are the people who have the confidence to rock something purple when everyone else is wearing white.”  

Then, the Adotas.com article titled “Are You Feeling Lucky Punk?” covered an NPR interview with Google gurus.  Know that “I’m Feeling Lucky” button on the Google home page?  Know what it does?  Know how many people click it?  According to Google’s Marisa Mayer, “less than 1 percent of our (Google’s)  searches are done through the ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’ route.”

To bring it full circle, those 1% motorcyclists who were, according to the Church of the Consumer, the “outlaws of culture” were rebelling in Hollister, CA.  Recognize that BRAND name anyone…??? 

Did you see the Goo Goo Dolls playing at the Detroit Lions halftime show on Thanksgiving Day?

Artistic dancers?  What’s up with that?  It always is interesting to me what happens as a an alternative band becomes more and more main stream OR as alternative itself becomes main stream.  It’s similar to action sports brands growing into publicly traded companies.  The young ”core” audience dosen’t like them anymore (or dosen’t want to admit they do) but the masses do (marketing budgets grow) and $$$ start flowing in…

The Goos started out as an alternative band finding commercial success years later.  They’ve transformed themselves into the main stream, creating songs for movies City of Angels and Transformers.  Like many bands before them, they played on the Tonight Show…

On T-Day, in front of millions, they played nice with songs “Better Days” and “Stay With You.”  (And didn’t have any costume malfunctions..) Afterall, it was a partnership between the NFL and United Way that brought the band to Detriot to spread the two group’s “commitment to youth health and fitness” message….

But artistic dancers?  Common!  I’d like to see how they’d do that for “Sex Maggot” or “Up Yours.”

It’s always interesting to me how different media present the same material in different ways.  It’s not that anyone is right or wrong…. For example, the Newspaper Association of America recently reported newspaper advertising revenues. 

Adotas.com “a premier publication focused on the online advertising and media industry” titled their aticle “Newspaper 3Q Revenue Down.”  Meanwhile, BtoB’s Daily News Alert e-newsletter, where “B2B marketers turn first to the magazine, Web site, newsletters and events that help them get where they need to go” covered the same info in an article titled, “Online Newspaper Advertising Jumps 21% in Third Quarter.” 

Glass half full or glass half empty?  Depends on who the source is… 

Basic text from both articles reveal the same info -

I’m not suggesting BtoB or B2B marketers are lame in anyway.  (I’ve been actively involved in the Business Marketing Assn. for several years and know that’s not the case at all) 

But… Adotas (wisely) also added alternative/confirming info from the Interactive Advertising Bureau which pointed out that “the pace of gains in online newspaper advertising, while slightly better than the 19.3 percent gain posted in the second quarter, trailed the 25.3 percent overall increase in online advertising for the same period.” 

How about 3/4 empty….??

I saw this article on New York Times website (11/19/07) the other day about Hollywood producer Brain Grazer of Imagine Entertainment. This guy is the movie king of Jack of All Trades! You may not know him – and (sorry Brian) I didn’t know his name, but then again, I don’t follow these things….(and he hasn’t been to my house yet to leave a photo – then again, the spiked hair wouldn’t stand out on my mantle anyway).

So, back to Brian, this from the NY Times, “Even for the most discerning moviegoer, there is no obvious common theme among his movies. Instead, he operates under the assumption that his own interests reflect those of the public. More often than not, he is right….including Liar Liar, Eight Mile, Inside Man, A Beautiful Mind and The Da Vinci Code.” Also, latest release, American Gangster – took in over $40 million in its first weekend in the theatre… Love that quote, “Instead, he operates under the assumption that his own interests…” Yeah man! We should ALL be so bold and committed.One more quote (I’m afraid you won’t follow the link, gentle reader, to NYT )

“In part, this eclecticism is a product of how Mr. Grazer works, turning his own passions into fodder for a film or a television show. For the last 20 years, Mr. Grazer has met each week with a person who is an expert in science, medicine, politics, fashion, religion — anything other than entertainment. He is so serious about the meetings that he has a staff member whose job it is to find interesting people.”

Hmmm, “eclecticism” is a product leading to success….” in part. Can ”eclecticism” (or jack of all trades – or being interested/involved) really be a product of success? “eclecticism” is YOU, can it be a PRODUCT of your success?? If oxygen or H2O is a PRODUCT/PART of your chemical makeup, what you need to survive, if carbon is PRODUCT/PART of what you are made of, are these things PRODUCT of your success?  Why minimize “eclecticism” as a “product”????

So, again to the “jack of all trades” theme, however, this time I’m talking about a MASTER of all of them.  A while back I had the opportunity to see the Frank Vignola Quintet.

WOW!  Who would ever think guitars, violin, standup bass, djembe drum and an electric banjo could absolutely bring down the house playing a, for lack of a better word, jazz-inspired mash up of Mozart, Beethoveen, The Police, Black Sabbath and Slayer with classic jazz and show tunes.  Don’t ask me how, but they pull it off beautifully.  Frank’s MySpace page sheds some more light on this showing a great variety of friends from the Kronos Quartet, to Herbie Hancock, to Ozzy. Kong Man is the newest album and was the main focus of the show.

Buy it – you’ll like it.  Or at the very least go see one of the shows.  It’s worth it and proves again that a Master is one who is a “jack of all trades.”

I was disappointed when WRRV 92.7/96.9 (Hudson Valley’s New Rock Alternative) DJ Schwenker was sold down the river to 92.3 K-Rock (The Rock of NY).  Upside – I get better radio reception out of NYC when I want it.  But this week, K-Rock’s program Fresh Meat @ 6 confused me a bit by chosing to feature Feist’s “1 2 3 4″. 

The song went up to something like no. 8 after being in an iPod Nano commercial. The artist has earned her chops being in the indie/punk scene since the mid-90’s so, she’s deserving of K-Rock’s recognition.  But The Reminder, Feist’s third solo album (which includes “1 2 3 4”) was released in North America way back in May 1, 2007 and in Europe even further back on April 23, 2007.

WFUV’s (Fordham University’s Voice) Claudia Marshall, Julianne Welby and Kathleen McNerny have been playing this tune as early as April 10.

I’m not suggesting Schwenker is to blame (he’s the best DJ on K-Rock) but, man, The Rock of New York’s “fresh meat” is over six months old. Maybe it’s the big station/corporate thing you hear about so often on member financed, public radio but I just expect more out of a Big Station in the Big Apple… 

I had the extreme pleasure of listening to Peter Shankman – PR man, author, sky diver, marathon runner – at a Business Marketing Assn. (BMA) event in Newark, NJ last night.  Why only 30 people showed up for the event was beyond me and, quite honestly, embarrassing. 

Anyway, what was even more personally embarrassing to me was the story Peter told about Chris Anderson’s (Editor in Chief of Wired) 10/29/07 blog where outed all the PR folks who had recently sent him news releases which were unrelated to what he writes about.  The ensuing communications ended – so far at least – with hundreds of posts and an article in the NY Times.

So, back to my embarrassment… I was reading Chris’ blog on 10/30 and said to myself, “he’s absolutely right.”  I’ve seen it done (and done it myself when doing PR).  But, I didn’t have the guts to put in my own post agreeing with Chris!  How lame is that?  I mean it’s a simple thing to do, I agreed fully and yet, for some reason, I was afraid to type my agreement.  It’s not like I couldn’t be anonymous…

One of the (many) things Shankman spoke about last night was “shaving the cat.”  As a kid, Peter shaved the family cat “to see what would happen.”  Damn, I did a lot of crazy stuff “to see what would happen.”  Sometimes it worked sometimes it didn’t.  Jumping my bike over the BBQ grill – worked.  Jumping my bike with the front axle nuts removed – actually worked and was a blast!  Shooting my sister in the back with an arrow – not such a good idea. 

So, why so scary to post a little comment agreeing with Anderson on his blog?  I mean, it’s not like I was going to break my collar bone, get shot with an arrow or loose my job.  I think it has something to do with the story Peter told about five baboons in a zoo cage.  Here’s a less entertaining version of Peter’s story if you don’t know it but, the bottom line is after a while it’s easy to get complacent, not experiment and NOT “see what would happen.”  Thanks for the inspiration Peter. 

In an article on BtoBonline.com (11/12/07 ) Rich Howe says, “Direct mail, e-mail, banner advertising, blogs, search, television, stores, radio, billboards, websites and mobile—these are instruments of marketing, but collectively how on earth does one orchestrate the music?”

For an advertiser with a little budget, an educated decision - based on customer research and strategic media selection – is about as far as it can go (some don’t even go that far…).  Howe goes on to describe how a company with the resources can integrate information across channels (something his company Acxiom Corp. does).

He says, “The old adage ‘you can’t manage what you don’t measure’ could not be a more perfect battle cry for marketers in this new multi-channel age. The lessons of the past become the beacon for the future.”

I love this guy!  The lessons of the past are a beacon for the future!  (Here’s a reason why…)

He then lists nine  steps to help develop a way to track customer data starting with the simple, old fashioned, ”First ask yourself how you plan to measure the results.”  In the old days, success may have been measured by counting phone calls to a sales person or counting tick marks on a bingo card.  Sure, it’s much more complicated now but the basics are still the basics.

The article is titled Multi-channel Madness.  Madness?  Madness?  I call it Gladness… Ye- Ha- Ha- Ha-