Archive for the ‘Etc.’ Category

Search is dead. People click less. Growth is only supported by adding users and getting us to spend more time online. We reach peak users this decade and probably peak time next week. After that growth stops. ‘Nuff said.

Then what happens? Text ads die too. Finally we give up the current metaphor and find a new one that better fits how we use the web.

The future has always been social
The one thing everyone knows about the next metaphor is that it somehow involves the word “social” like the last one used “context”. The most obvious example of a social platform right now is Facebook. Yet, the most effective social (and contextual) ad platform in history has a CPM of .04%. That’s 400 clicks out of a million impressions. Scary stuff. Thankfully for them they’ve got entire internal economies based on games and virtual currencies. Facebook will do just fine. So what about the rest of us?

It’s obvious that the newspaper/magazine metaphor we arrived at in the 1990’s for monetizing the internet isn’t going to last any longer than actual newspapers and magazines. Those of us not named Facebook need a new metaphor.

A starting point for a metaphor can be a meme. The current meme is all about social proof. Startups like Blippy and Facebook concepts like Beacon are based upon the idea of using social proof as a way to get you to buy the things your friends are buying.

Both were very clumsy attempts (perceived as being either invasive and/or outright tacky) at cracking the social marketing problem. As obnoxious as it is to build a startup that tweets the conspicuous consumption of affluent Bay area folks to a world going through the worst recession in a generation, it was an attempt by very smart people to solve a problem we have no clear solution for: How do you make people buy things when they don’t want to click on ads anymore? Solution (or so they think): tell your friends what you’re buying and maybe they’ll follow suit.

Near as I can tell, Blippy, Beacon and similar platforms are a metaphoric crossbreed of a Tupperware party and the price tag on Minnie Pearl’s hat. It’s using people’s own consumption as advertising to their friends.

I think there’s potential in that metaphor if it doesn’t come across as being too invasive or tacky. Unfortunately, those are the two things the people trying hardest in that space excel at being.

A really good metaphor, one that we can use to contextualize all of this networked activity, should give us at least another decade of growth and innovation. This metaphor that gives us a new, yet familiar way to look at things and plug in content, business and social interaction is the what’s going to unleash the next big boom in online commerce. Like search and contextual advertising did for the last decade, this new metaphor is will be the launching point for the next trillion-dollar online economy. So what is it?

We’ve already met part of the metaphor…
The important parts of this metaphor are right in front of us. We just haven’t recognized it yet. Text ads, search and contextual advertising were around before Google figured out how to make them all work and we saw the Internet as a giant newspaper/magazine metaphor.

We know the next stage has got to be social and that’s why there’s all of that investing into apparently ridiculous schemes. This isn’t a game where it pays to sit on the sidelines when you’ve got billions of cash at your disposal to spend on experiments. Blippy, Beacon, even the nefarious Pay-Per-Post provided us with lots of information about people’s behavior. Granted, you could have probably learned a lot of this with some clever small scale experiments, but that’s not the way VCs work. It’s all anecdotal until you try it. These are folks willing to build their own space fleets on a whim. Spending ten million to annoy you with locations services or show you how crass your friends are is chump change for them. People say they’re aiming for the next Google. But actually they’re actually aiming to be even bigger than that.

Taking a wisdom of the crowds perspective, we can deduce:
1. Somehow it’s “social”.
2. It won’t be something that makes us click outside our area of interest.
3. We’re going to be even more annoyed by the failed attempts.
4. It’s going to make us rethink “privacy” (an already an alien concept to anyone under 20).
5. It’ll be explained to us as a metaphor we already understand in a different context.
6. Really smart people are spending lots of money on things they think are part of it. There’s a reason Google has been smothering pet projects in the crib; they want to focus their resources.

Those are just a few pieces of the puzzle. I personally suspect that the next metaphor isn’t necessarily going to be something as simple as saying the Internet is now like pay cable or radio. In fact, I think we’ve already exhausted all the traditional forms of looking at media as a metaphor for the internet. Sure it’d be nice to invent some new construct to look at it, but that never works with humans. We work with patterns we’re already familiar with.

I thing this next metaphor is going to based much more on how humans do trade and not how we consume information. And I just don’t necessarily mean how we did commerce in the 20th century, the Middle Ages or even during the time of the Phoenicians. I think we may need to start talking to anthropologists about much deeper metaphors that go back 100,000 years or maybe even further. But not too much further. It’s not a metaphor that applies to chimps or even our more closer related ancestors like Homo Erectus or Neanderthal. I bet elements of it are in Adam Smith’s The Theory of Moral Sentiments and Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. Figure out which part and maybe you’ll be the one to figure out the trillion-dollar metaphor everyone is looking to find.

Andrew Mayne is founder of Blurbtastic.com and publisher of WeirdThings.com. His personal website can be found at AndrewMayne.com.

So Rudy Coby, calls me up and asks me if I want to perform at the Castle during his week there. “Sure”, I respond without really thinking it through. After I hang up I realize I haven’t done a straight up magic show in the last million years that didn’t involve explaining how oxytocin receptors can be manipulated to encourage confabulation or how long dead Scottish philosphers deeply understood modern neuroeconomic principles. No problem…

Ever since I stopped touring most of my performing has been at conferences on economics and science. It’s a very fun venue and has allowed me to meet some very cool people. I’ve learned a lot from those folks and my show has evolved considerably from the experience. The problem is that my show evolved into a lecture. Great for those conferences, not so much for general audiences. While I think lay people would be interested in the same stuff I am, just not in that venue.

So now I find myself starting over from square one. Only this time I plan on using some of what I’ve learned in the structure of the show. I’ve actually called on one of my super genius science friends to help me with a stunt that I’ll be doing unless it actually kills me first.

In ten days I’ll get to perform this new hybrid of a show that evolved from the lecture that evolved from my original show. I’ve got some cool stuff planned and I hope it all works out right. We’ve already tested some of the stuff (Like Puppet Prestige) and called in a favor or two for a special guest appearance…

If you’re in town and want to check it out, rumor has it that there may be day passes available here: broman@magiccastle.com

I’ll also be posting on Twitter when I have guest slots available.

Hope to see you there…

Print edition 

Andrew Mayne presents his most practical levitations for the stage and the street.  Combining updated material from Touching Sky and step-by-step instructions from Levitator (DVD).

Learn how to levitate on the street, in your living room or on stage.

32 pages full-sized 8.5″ by 11″

Only $14.95 includes free shipping! 

I’ve been working on an app based on the idea behind my Ghost Vision effect. Only this isn’t a magic trick…

I put this up over at my new side project (MonetizeThis.info): How to make money on a fan podcast (using Harry Potter fan podcasts as an example)

Since the late 90′s and the birth of the online magic shop, local magic shops have been dropping off left and right.  A big part of this has to do with the efficiencies that come with running an internet business versus a brick and mortar shop.  Running a physical magic shop has never been easy.  Shop owners have for the most part been dependent on what the current fashion is in magic, the kind of product available and the fickle tastes of magic enthusiasts.  Online stores can undercut pricing, have larger inventory (or sometimes pretend to by lying to you about product availability), not pay for retail space and save on hiring actual magicians to demonstrate product.  The Internet bought the ultimate test of customer loyalty with shop owners repeatedly having the experience of demonstrating a product to a potential customer only to be told they’re going to go buy it online for a couple bucks less.

There is no moral to be learned from this.  It’s simply the transition from the old to the new.  When the Sears catalog launched in 1888 it changed retail in a disruptive way with clear pricing and a different distribution model.  Department stores and “big box” stores were all disruptive stops towards the Internet retail apocalypse.  And even the online magic shops that boomed in the early 2000′s are facing their own problems as they fight for customers, product exclusives, search engine placement while trying to undercut competition and still make a profit.

Amidst this all this is an opportunity for some retail magic shops to survive (besides the touristy ones that sell hovering cards and D’Lites).  This involves embracing what makes them special and appealing to basic human needs.  Think social and think viral.  What social purposes can your shop serve?  How can your customers spread your message?

At the end of the day magic shops need to make money.  Any kind of interaction with customers needs to directly or indirectly encourage that.  Turning a section of your shop into a hang out or a reading lounge usually has the habit of encouraging the same kind of clientele public libraries get during the day: bums.  A better approach is to think about different purposeful ways you can use your space and your customers for mutual benefit.

Here are some ideas on how to serve the needs of the shop and your customers:

1.  Screen magic television specials

We’ve all seen them, but have we seen them with a roomful of magicians?  Setting up a screening of old (or new) magic specials creates a fun communal opportunity for magicians and gets them in your store. If you happen to have some of the tricks featured on the special available for purchase, all the better.  Charge a fee and serve food.

2.  Stay open later

Pick one day of the week to stay open until midnight.  Have later hours in general.  Most of the shops I’ve dealt with have weird hours and forget that many magicians are more likely to have night owl hours than banker’s hours.

3.  Sell snacks and beverages

I’m surprised by how many shops fail to do this.  There’s a reason there’s a Starbucks in the middle of every Barnes & Noble.  They realized you can make money off of loiterers.

4.  Sponsor local magicians

Have a team of local magicians you keep stocked with decks of cards and things like flash paper in exchange for handing out flyers and promotional material for your shop.  Give them retail points for every person they send into your shop.  Help them and let them promote you.

5.  Have shows for the public

I always get asked by people where they can see local magic.  I think every shop should do showcases on a regular basis.  This can be close-up, parlor or anything in between.  Don’t just think kid’s shows.  Do shows in the evening.  Do the show on the counter, it doesn’t matter.  Cross-promote with your local theatre groups.  Put fliers in places where people who go see live theatre like to go.

6.  Do house calls

It works for Tupperware and adult toys.  Why not take to shop to the suburbs?  Lots of magicians have friends who might like magic but wouldn’t actually go to a magic shop.  Think about a magic demo that works in a living room and you give the host a share of the take.  This is especially useful if there are cities nearby that don’t have a magic shop.  Bring the magic shop to them.

7. Provide promotional services for magicians

Can you help magicians get online with a website?  Get photography and promotional materials?  All of these services are things you can provide for a referral fee.

8.  Rent sound, light equipment and illusions

A big part of how music stores make money is by renting equipment.  Magic shops can do the same.  Most magicians aren’t prepared for venues where they have to bring in their own sound equipment.  The same goes for illusions.  The best part about this for a shop is that you don’t actually have to own any of this stuff.  Find out who has what kind of gear and work out a deal with them where you handle the rental for a cut of the profit. 

9.  Rent out your shop

If your shop has a stage, why not rent it out to other magicians?  They can use it as a showcase, for private parties or just for their own vanity.  I got my first cruise ship job from a tape I filmed on a magic shop stage.  You can even rent out your stage (even a small one) as a rehearsal space.  Set up a video camera and create a spot for magicians to practice their stuff in ideal conditions.

10.  Rent your customers

If you think of your shop as a referral service you can provide people looking for shows a place to find entertainers, you also have a venue to showcase magicians for event planners and other people looking to hire acts.  State laws vary, but being a one-stop shop for magical entertainment is way to utilize your customer base and keep them employed to buy more magic.

Here’s the embed (click to expand for HD) of the evil puppet movie I made with Justin Robert Young.  We are working on a sequel…

The TSA xray tech was a little confused by this.

There have been some questions in the comments section of the YouTube page for the video about how it was done.  If you haven’t seen the video, here it is again (it’s only 40 seconds long).

Justin Robert Young and I made this video while we were waiting for our flight at Logan International airport.  I saw on Twitter that Katie Kenner was at World Magic Seminar in Las Vegas giving out decks to anyone who showed her a card trick (Chris and Katie Kenner are among my favorite people in the world.  They get first-class seating in my space ark).  I don’t really like winning free stuff.  I just like winning.  Since I was thousands of miles away I decided to do a card trick on my iPhone and send it to Katie in the hopes that I could win a free deck that I actually don’t need.

I thought about something that would be fun and quick.  Partially inspired by Marco Tempest and by the kind of camera stunts I used to pull back in high school with a camcorder I schemed up a teleportation effect.

In most of my stage shows I do some kind of teleportation illusion.  I’ve even used to do it every night in a small night club in Japan under the most difficult conditions.  In there I’d sometimes appear in the middle of an audience sitting on the floor.  

I explained everything to Justin and we shot it in the first take (not counting a partial take where I said “Magic Live” instead of “World Magic Seminar” and stopped recording).  No editing of any kind.  No reshoots, what you see is exactly how it happened.  From conception to upload, the whole event took less than five minutes.

I just got this from my super-secret source.  Apparently at the end of the LOST David Copperfield comes walking out of the jungle and welcomes everyone to his private island.  Turns out LOST has been a thinly veiled remake of Fantasy Island.  (Copperfield exec-producer Chris Kenner is shown actual size in photo.)

David Copperfield and Chris “One Meter of Fun” Kenner