Did You Get the New Google Logo T-Shirt?

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the Casual Connect conference here in Tel Aviv. For those that don't know, Casual Connect is in the words of the website:

Casual Connect Tel Aviv is about matching the creativity of the games industry with new media innovation and investment to find the next big thing for the games industry. Tel Aviv is a fun and beautiful city filled with history, culture and representing the forefront of the burgeoning games industry.

I had volunteered to record the sessions and was given the last day of the event's marketing track, and a free pass to the show.

Having only slightly worked in the industry it was a chance to look into the minds and ideas around people that give corporate enterprises zero thought. Everything, and everyone, was hyper focused on the consumer and of course gaming or gambling games.

One of the things we received in our conference bags was what looked like a long bookmark and it had a Google logo on it and said to stop by the Google stand and pick up the new logo t-shirt. How could I resist, so in the name of research off I went to find Google.

They had a stand made out of large LEGO pieces with a fountain of marshmallows in the middle. perfect for the event. They had on hand people to help you with Adwords and other advertising aspects of the great Googleverse.

I stepped up and asked about the t-shirt. The woman at the stand said I needed to trade the bookmark for a shirt. Being an avid reader of physical paper books I asked if I could keep the bookmark, after all doesn't Google care about education? Nope, you must swap the bookmark for the shirt.

This reminded me of years ago when I worked on Broadway and the box office was charged per cup used and verified by how many drinks were ordered or served. Seemed like a poor way to manage the kiosk then, and this was not much more insightful.

I acquiesced and did the swap and then waited for the barcode scanner or a verification of my name or business card, they didn't ask for one. This got me thinking, was Google really all knowing that they knew who everyone was? Maybe they were getting the entire attendee list so it did not matter if they knew I picked up a shirt or not.

Maybe, this being Google, they were playing a math game. How many bookmarks were "delivered" to attendees, how many were returned for a shirt and how many shirts were actually given out. Like my Broadway kiosk seemed like trust was a factor, but for whom?

Why would Google waste time, resources, and money just to go to a conference which really was about the back office efforts of the gaming industry? If they really wanted to get their new logo and shirt out to the world they would have been better off at one of the main train stations down the road.

Could Google have been gaming the attendees? Was it an inside joke to see how any shirts could be given away without actually doing anything else? Were the shirts just leftovers from the recent rebranding exercise?

Maybe Google has gotten so big, the underlings just don't care, or know enough, because their own managers have no clue about business and how or why leads like this are important. Or maybe, because they are Google and literally see all our searches, posts and data that anytime they need leads they just do some SQL search on their raw data.

I don't know the answer. It was funny given how many people at the event were all about eyeballs and retention and while this gets eyeballs, not sure about retention.

Was it a waste of money for them? Is branding really important when you are Google? Is it because people don't want to be seen with a vintage shirt but a new modern version and Google was just playing with us?

I got a shirt, and a book called 'The Secret To App Success on Google Play" (pdf version) from Google, not sure what they got from me aside from this post.

Why I am NOT Changing My Moniker

This post is being written in the Dolphin hotel, where everyone in Orlando is gathered for the annual Collaboration lovefest called Connect 2013, formerly known as Lotusphere.

Some people may make fun of us, they may think it is out dated, they may believe there is nothing else to do, or care about this or just don't get it. Sure I speak in a bubble that has it's own terms, acronyms and quirks like any other solution out there, but it is one which I believe in very strongly.

As I sit here writing this, I am listening, watching the great video the Connect 2013 team provided everyone with the history of past Lotusphere events, most of which I have attended (I hope there is some Lotusphere Europe bits in there too). The great speakers, the executives, the cheers, the parties, the legendary "things that stay at Lotusphere", and more, that gave us great highs and few lows.

Many people this year asked me if I was dropping or changing my Twitter/Skype and other monikers that use Lotusevangelist. The answer is no, it stays, and will stay for however long I continue to do what I love.

There is no one pushing me to change the name, although I had thought about it this year, one of the sessions at Connect reminded me why I chose this title to leverage.

The session done by my evangelist idols, Luis Suarez, Louis Richardson and Luis Benitez brought to me what is important. My brand. My world, my readers, my friends and our greater good we could create.

Perhaps changing my moniker would be accepted, but that would deny what I am, what I believe and what I do.

My role, so to speak, as an IBM Champion for ICS and Websphere is to be a brand ambassador. Maybe this is idea of not changing my moniker is not inline with some people, but if you Get Social and understand it, you understand that your personal brand is very important to you. You work hard to grow your social influence, but without being a thought leader or technically competent, it is luck if you get anywhere. I am not that intelligent, plenty of great speakers this week cover and covered many topics, most likely better than I. However, when you need to explain solutions and work with management that may not understand the social imperative or the open business (Luis Suarez used this line tonight) direction this will lead your company, who would you prefer to put in front of that client? Someone who not only sells it and works on it, but also uses it and leverages it across products and geographies or someone who you can't even find on Linkedin?

There is nothing like IBM Domino and Notes, Sametime or Quickr out there that really does so much and in so many ways and with IBM Connections you get even more embedded into a realm that was started 20 or so years ago.

None of this is new, so what does this have to do with My Brand? One becomes connected, some say too much, but I don't think so because how can you get across and truly be authentic, when your name changes everywhere each year because of what the industry analysts decide to rename so they can sell more subscriptions?

Walking the halls here and people recognizing me and following me because they have that hope, the view, that I bring them hope or guidance to do what they may not have thought they could.

I want open business, not partially open business. My blog is public and open, anyone can read it and search and find it easily. It brings in business and if IBM did not have an issue naming me an IBM Champion or a Redbooks thought leader, who am I to argue with what works for me.

As Michael J. Fox said last year at Lotusphere 2012 on stage, "A lady gave birth in a tree, what have you got?"

When I believe in something strongly enough, I encourage others to do so as well. I encourage admins to see their lives through their boss or their bosses boss. I ask developers to think about the junior devs or admins like me that are weak on development skills when they share information. I help marketing people recognize there are more people out there they never even thought would use their products. I bring a global view that crosses cultures and is not bounded by geography, sales compensation plans or personal biases. I blog because I care about tomorrow and the person working on a problem or an idea at 3 AM and they need inspiration or support.

And I renew this belief every year I come to Orlando for the conference formerly known as Lotusphere that has graduated to be called Connect.

Eat Your Own Dog Food

What do these mean to you?
Loyalty, Branding, Community, Advertising, Self-Promotion?

If you spend so much time getting your name, or your companies, out in the world, online or in print or wherever, don't you think you should also use your own tools to do that job?

Sure an auto company does not sell financial software packages but they do employ many designers and graphic artists....yet do these same people create their advertisements? They could and maybe should. Leave the wording to marketing. But why do they go outside for that part? I understand they go outside because others have connections to get them specific places or headings or promotional opportunities, but to outsource the advertising itself? Why?

And so when a technology company wants to impress people shouldn't they also be using their own software to produce websites or newsletters or apps rather than using a competitors solutions?

Think about your company, do you outsource what could be done inside by someone? The benefits to the employee are huge. They get to tell their friends to watch for the new ad or app or design. They will have a renewed sense of ownership in the greater community you call your organization and you will save some money and not make your employees feel stupid or wasted.

If you can't or don't want to use your own employees, or community members as one may say in social business arenas, what message does that send?

So is Lotus, the IBM brand, dead? Or not?

Let me say at the outset, IBM has not terminated any Lotus products that are currently on the market. Older editions (R7) are sunset just like any other product line(IE6 is a good example).
IBM has not informed me of any such plans and if they had, well I couldn't really tell you any way due to NDA.
So just get that out of your head right now and send the Microsoft sales guy to me if he wants to argue about legacy products like Windows XP, Exchange 2003 or SQL 2000 that are still not sunset, see here for more listings: support.microsoft.com/lifecycle.

Customers that have been loyal to IBM and Lotus believe given the Lotus Knows campaign from part of 2010 and the continuous updates released across the product lines that all is good and just getting a face lift.

Customers that refused to touch Lotus lately are now being amenable to IBM branded items, even though they are still the same products as before, more or less. Perhaps the CXOs feel that an IBM solution is a safer and easier discussion to have compared to one that mentions Lotus. New Coke this isn't. This is just a branding exercise not a rewrite. And in the executive suites, names are MUCH more important than technical coolness.

Oddly enough if (no idea what the actual number is) 85 out of 100 Fortune 100 companies still use Domino applications this is weird to me that they refuse to believe it or mention it or anything else. We have a backyard but never mention it, just enjoy it.

IBM is taking it's time in the slow rebranding process. LotusLive is staying, right now, as Lotus. Notes and Domino look to be staying for the moment too(I expect January 2012 to be full of announcements). The newly announced IBM Champions skips Lotus for the IBM Collaboration Solutions moniker.

IBM still sells Smartsuite, mine still installs as Lotus, wonder if that will be rebranded too. After all it still makes money for IBM somewhere in the world.

Amanda Bauman, via the IBM Collaboration Solutions User Experience Blog posted about a number of shorter URLs
"To help make it easier for you to find the information you're looking for, we now have simplified URLs to some of our key Web sites."


What are they? All Lotus Links. http://learn.lotus.com , http://wiki.lotus.com, http://doc.lotus.com, http://m.lotus.com 
We have asked for this for a while, simpler, easier URLs. Thank You. But, it did not say the http://wiki.ibmcs.com exists. 


Lotusphere Comes To You is, for this year, Social Roadshows. No idea what next year's will be.


Lotusphere itself? No idea but maybe it should be rebranded with the Devcon name which is what it has become in the last few years. Admincon just doesn't have the same ring to it.


As a Business Partner IBM asks us to get certified in products, now product lines or areas, such as collaborative solutions. Sounds more like a sales effort than a technical one to me. We have a choice of different exams which no longer totally focus on a specific product which has both a up and a down side.


What we ask, as Business Partners, customers, admins and developers from IBM is simple. Just do it! If you want to rebrand, we get it, but we need your help as well in getting a clear, concise and definitive answer to the BPs and the world at large. 


Take the leap of faith, be Google, be Apple. 
Be definitive. 
Don't be wishy washy anymore!
If you believe this is the best way forward, back it up and show it.
Be a man, or woman, about it.


Inside IBMers wonder why the outside doesn't "get it" about the rebranding.


It is because you never really came out of the closet to tell anyone on the outside the plan.


Stuart said more in his post on this topic and I encourage you, if you made it this far, to read his thoughts as well.