Notes from the Field

New Field Link: eMarketer Daily

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:45:00 +0000

Greetings. I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday weekend.

I wanted to call out a new Field Link. It's the HTML version of eMarketer's daily email. I've received the email update for quite some time and find it an invaluable and thought provoking resource.

A new TV and the power of the interwebz

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:32:00 +0000

I just recently bought a new TV and the experience has highlighted the power (and promise) of the Internet in delivering a holistic customer experience that’s consistent online and offline -- as much as it’s an experience with a company (or brand) rather than this is my offline experience and that’s my online experience. After 14 years of great service, it was time to retire my old ProScan CRT. After much research, I decided to go with a new Sony Bravia XBR. I purchased the TV at Best Buy, in part because I was going to switch to DirecTV (because they have the contract rights to the NFL Sunday Ticket) from Comcast and Best Buy would take $30/month off my DirecTV bill for 12 months; and in part, because I could see the product up-close before I bought it. The interaction with both companies provided great examples of delivering a wonderful customer experience.

Through Best Buy, I also bought a new TV stand. However, I bought it online and used the in-store pickup. No need to drive around and see if they have it or not. Go online and see which store has it. The process was great – see which stores have the product in stock, buy from that store, get a confirmation email that the store is ready for you, drive to the store, do curbside pick up, and have a delightful “blue shirt” bring out the merchandise. Total time spent in the parking lot of the store, six minutes. How awesome is that?! Anyone that has been through a major technology deployment that has hooks in to backend systems, such as inventory, commerce, or supply chaing, should be impressed. In short, they don’t make their technology or processes the customer’s problem. It was a nearly seamless integration of online and offline technology and process to deliver a unified experience. In the future, I’m thinking they shouldn’t need a confirmation email to tell you they’re ready, but now I’m picking nits.

With DirecTV, I was impressed with the personalized web portal and associated account information. The personalization includes TV listings. From that TV listings page, I can set my DVR to record. Tivo-esque, I know, but this is another unified experience from my programming provider. So, I could be away from home and reading an email or an article about a cool new show, or a news special that’s on before I get home. Surf over to my DirecTV page, log in, and bammo, set my DVR to record.

The take away, think about your customer’s experience in total, not as a collection of online and offline silos. It’s just plain, old commerce, it’s not e-commerce.

Brand Lessons with The Big K

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 03:24:00 +0000

Rockford, IL, my hometown is the source for some new store testing by K-Mart... or more accurately new testing in old stores. This effort is interestingly detailed in a recent Chicago Tribune article. You may know Rockford as the former screw capital of the world, not because of Ginger Lynn Allen, but because of its status a leading manufacturing town from the 1940s – 1970s. Towards the end of Rockford’s glory days came K-Mart. K-Mart is trying to figure out its brand identity and how to ground it in a meaningful way with constituents. In a similar way, Rockford struggles to attract new business and industries to the once proud city.

I think there are a few interesting take-aways from the article:

1. As mentioned with politics in the previous post, when it comes to brand identity, it’s a position or be positioned proposition. K-Mart had the lead from a timing perspective and Wal-Mart outflanked K-Mart pragmatically on price. Target claimed a social position based on shopping experience. That kind of leaves a righteous position, but it’s hard for any consumer to think blue light and quality together.

2. Test. I think it’s a great idea to test concepts. In this case it’s a low-risk proposition, as Rockford is not a trend-setting, high visibility hot spot. Yes, I know, the greatest power pop band ever came out of Rockford, but that’s not going to help K-Mart. So, K-Mart may want us to want them, we’re not going to surrender to their whims. Ok, back to my point about testing. Try to figure out what might work. Iterate. Rinse, lather, repeat. Progress, not perfection. Then when you’re feeling confident, notify the public. Not the other way around. Especially if you’re trying to re-brand or reposition, don’t lead with the awareness campaign, then try to figure it out. You can do more brand damage if you deliver a bad experience when you’re saying you’re new and improved. The customer is left to believe that you’ve gone from bad to worse.

3. All symbolic, or brand, identities have a shelf life. Perhaps the Big K has run its course. From it’s regional days to the high points in the 70s, K-Mart has clearly gone through consciousness creation (new, unique drama), consciousness raising (growing/expanding the identity among more people), sustain the vision (shielding the committed, staving off new visions like Wal-Mart or Target), decline (your identity loses currency in the market place and your customers seek new visions that meet their needs) and then implosion (the vision dies).

Politics is a Position or Be Positioned Proposition

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 20:12:00 +0000

Last weekend, Al Franken won the Minnesota DFL nomination to be their candidate for the U.S. Senate race against incumbent Norm Coleman (R). While Franken won on first ballot, his campaign has been weakened by income tax problems and a satire piece for Playboy magazine. What I find interesting, is that it seems as though the Coleman campaign knows more about Franken than Franken’s campaign. The way Coleman’s campaign and surrogates have been able to keep Franken on the defensive is another example of how you can be positioned by your competition.

With all symbolic realities (brands, politics, etc.), it’s a position or be positioned game. If you can’t carve out an identity and ground it, you run the risk of having your competition do it for you.

Going "Code Blue" for Beer

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 02:47:00 +0000

An interesting article from the New York Times regarding Coors Light and their 360 campaign leveraging social media. Now, I'm not a fan of their product, but I do appreciate the effort to get their message out in a 360 degree manner...or as I used to say "surround sound"... but that might make me sound rather analog.

For instance, consumers ages 21 and older will be able to send friends “Code blue” alerts on Facebook.com, inviting them to meet up for a beer — a Coors Light, natch. They can even use Facebook maps to direct their potential brew crew to a nearby bar. The Facebook feature, or application, is scheduled to start early next week.

I think that the number of agencies involved in pulling off this campaign and representing the brand reinforce the need to understand and own one's symbolic identity.

Thanks to John for the link.

Zappos & Culture: Walking the Talk with an Online Shoe Store

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Tue, 20 May 2008 19:47:00 +0000

Great article about Zappos and their policy to pay employees to quit.

It’s a small practice with big implications: Companies don’t engage emotionally with their customers—people do. If you want to create a memorable company, you have to fill your company with memorable people. How are you making sure that you’re filling your organization with the right people? And how much are you willing to pay to find out?

Hat tip to Christopher for the link.

Minnesota's Sesquicentennial

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Mon, 12 May 2008 20:17:00 +0000

This week the State of Minnesota is celebrating its Sesquicentennial. I think it’s another great example of how we live in a symbolic reality with competing converging and diverging interpretations of symbolic fact. The material facts are pretty simple with this one, the State of Minnesota (as it was charted and brought into the United States) is marking its 150th anniversary. The symbolic facts can generate a little more positive or negative energy depending on your vantage point. Also the symbolic facts are those that are up to the audience member and convey emotion, identity, meaning, and motive for action. As this article by Kara McGuire in the Star Tribune points out, the history and its meaning are quite different for Native Americans than it is for the descendents of European settlers and immigrants. For Native American tribe members, the emotion is much different than that of the proud politician. The motive for action is clearly different as well – rather than music and banners, one might want a somber reminder of the deaths of their forefathers.

In another article/editorial from the same paper, we have another perspective on the celebration – more specifically why the celebration can’t be too loud and that loud noise could break some buildings. Given the bridge collapse last August, the State doesn’t need to remind its citizens of how tax dollars have or have not been spent and how that spending has protected, or not protected us.

So, one basic element, a 150 year anniversary, can be seen as a celebration, a dark reminder, or a potential hazard. There are many more items that come to mind for people who have lived here for generations and for those of us “outsiders” who were born elsewhere. The way these symbolic facts generate emotion and identity can bring constituents together or drive them apart. A skilled communicator can help position the positive elements of the state’s rich history and not have their story derailed by competing interpretations.

Great Example of Symbolic Cues

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Mon, 12 May 2008 19:49:00 +0000

On Seth's blog, there's a link to an interesting brand application. The app serves up one iconic logo at a time. Your job is to type a one word description. I'd love to see the data they're getting on these brands.

As Seth point's out, "It's a simple game where you pick one-word associations to go with major brands. The result pages are actually pretty inane, but the magical way each and every one of these brands compels you to think is fascinating."

That magic is the power of a symbolic cue. In this case, it's in visual form, but look at how that one "short-hand" element can denote and conjure up meaning, motive, identity, and emotion. Those cues can represent themes that chain out positively or negatively...or not at all. If you've never seen one of the logos, you may have no connection to it and it doesn't chain out.

Takeaways: We live in a symbolically created reality and we our symbolic reality "retribalizes" us in ways that transcend geography (the old tribalizer).

Facebook

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Tue, 06 May 2008 02:13:00 +0000

Some digital metaphors don't hold up in the analog world. Similar to cc or bcc on emails. Hey everyone, get a load of the message I'm going to send Jim...better yet get under my desk while I yell at him and don't give him a chance to respond.

This video has a similar, but funnier vibe to it.

Hat tip to Elise.

Charlie Rose by Samuel Beckett

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Tue, 06 May 2008 01:05:00 +0000

This video was sent to me by two associates in the past two weeks -- one a former board member of a theatre company, the other a current co-worker in the online marketing space. Equally enjoyable for the interactive and post-modern theatre fans.

Happy Birthday iTunes

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Mon, 05 May 2008 03:44:00 +0000

Happy Birthday iTunes!!

Think about how iTunes is helping shape and change the way we consume media...all in the past five years. Think about the way television programing and the music industry have changed (for better or worse) in the wake of iTunes. It is pretty impressive the magnitude of change that we've seen in the past five years. Personally, I use iTunes for my music, numerous podcasts, buying TV shows, and I even use it to watch movies rented from the iTunes store. My iMac at home, and my iPod and iPhone, continue to give me more freedom when it comes to choosing which media I'm going to consume and when I chose to consume it. As I write this, I'm watching an episode of "Frisky Dingo."

Thanks Apple.

Communication 2.0: Symbolic Identity, Interactivity, and Research

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 04:28:00 +0000

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been in an extensive dialogue with some professional colleagues regarding the importance of reputation management (which in many ways is a return to good, solid communication and public relations practices) to provide communication value in a (long-tail media) world of fragmented communication channels.

Our discussions have reinforced my thinking about some of the key areas that are/will be needed by communication professionals in the 21st century. In short, I believe that communication professionals must embrace and master a holistic approach when it comes to integrated communication. There are three areas that comprise this holistic approach - (1) symbolic identity (or brand management), (2) interactive strategies and tactics (continuing to master all media and channels at your disposal), and (3) communication-based research.

Symbolic Identity & Brand
As the number of media channels continue to expand and traditional (and not so traditional) audience groups continue to segment the need for a strong brand and understanding of your symbolic identity is imperative for marketing and communication professionals. Having a cohesive, understood symbolic identity helps you cope with the changing elements of your audience. We, as humans, continue to re-tribalize through our symbol systems – most of which are now delivered electronically. This retribalization makes it nearly impossible for communication practitioners to master, let alone manage, all available channels. Instead, one should understand the symbolic dramas that comprise their brand or identity (see research). In many ways, as Reis has said, it is the rise (or return) of PR, as communication professionals need to manage reputation (and symbol systems) rather than channels. One way to do so is to be honest to your identity – know what it is you are and embrace it – don’t try to be all things to all people, it will help you in the wild, wild west of Web 2.0. It is my belief that most brand damage comes from within – try not shoot yourself in the foot buckeroo.

Interactive Strategies & Tactics
The name of the game, so far this century, is interactive. The Web, Web 2.0, Social Media, etc. continue to be new, or emerging, channels that introduce a new vernacular. We need to continue to use good, sound communication practices and balance that redundancy with the novelty of new channels. The channels enable and restrict the message as well as the potential bandwidth for our symbols. We no longer have the luxury of mastering a few channels and messages – in a world when we generally had similar shared experiences when it came to the places and types of media we consumed. However, we need to understand how the Web, interactive, and mobile is changing the way we negotiate meaning with our publics and the cue-givers. Appointment television is over. Newspaper readership is dying. However, interactive continues to grow and better yet it is measurable (with the caveat that just because you can measure doesn’t mean it’s valuable). With the growth of interactive channels and devices it is important to know how new technology enables and constrains your communication with your audience segments. Strategically, you need to understand and master grounding your symbolic identity in a valuable way with your constituents. Tactically, you need to consider messaging and CRM tactics that leverage an interactive world that is continuing to leave the desktop and mouse behind. Think about the iPhone and gesture technology, texting (and the vernacular or vulgar, depending on your point of view), and search engines influencing web traffic as examples of how new media is changing the communication landscape.

Communication-Based Research
Finally, research. Specifically, communication-based research (qualitative and quantitative), like that in SymbolicID. What’s research have to do with the two items above? Well, a lot frankly. You need to know what symbolic visions or dramas your audiences are participating in. The best way to get there is to use communication-based research. Communication professionals need to understand how to operationalize communication variables and constructs. This is what helps you tell a fact from a not-fact and avoids expensive scavenger hunts with your communication campaigns. You need to know what creates value for your constituents. You need to measure and manage the customer-experience. Beyond traditional marketing and research metrics (which are necessary but not sufficient), you need to be able to understand meaning, motive, identity, and emotion as the construct a symbolic reality for your audience segments. You also need to understand the current value and life cycle standing of your symbolic identity. This understanding impacts your communication strategies and tactics. Remember, all symbolic visions have a life cycle, which includes five stages:
1. Consciousness Creation (bringing a new symbolic identity to life - -think innovation);
2. Consciousness Raising (growing the vision, expanding your audience);
3. Consciousness Sustaining (shielding the committed, inoculating against competing visions);
4. Decline (the vision loses currency in the symbolic marketplace) and; finally,
5. Implosion (the vision dies as there is no symbolic value in the market place).

Research helps you better understand, explain and predict audience behavior. Through a mix of research tools available to us, it becomes easier to conduct research from easy to conduct quantitative surveys and polls, to in-depth qualitative work. While it becomes easier, like our communication practices, you need good, solid research practices to help you separate facts from noisy and expensive non-facts. Communication-based research is the key to "cracking the code" on constituent behavior. Research is sounding pretty valuable right now isn’t it? To what extent can you currently explain and predict your audience behavior?

In summary, the three components of symbolic identity, interactivity, and research helps tie together a unified and valuable approach to communicating with our constituents in the 21st century. A holistic approach, grounded with the previously mentioned touchstones, will prevent a confusing smattering of shotgun tactics that can hurt more than help your brand. Instead the approach enables you to effectively tie together your strategy and tactics in a valuable and meaningful way. Utilizing these elements will prevent you from wasting energy trying to keep up with the Joneses 2.0. Right, everything just sounds more authoritative if you throw a “2.0” on the end. But seriously, you should really focus on the trifecta of symbolic identity, interactivity, and research.

Knowledge Management & Innovation: The Knowledge Brokering Cycle

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 03:13:00 +0000

One of my professional interests is knowledge management. From base level items that may technically be information management (in the areas of customer service -- pushing the right information closer to the customer) to the concepts of a knowing organization and strategically leveraging knowledge to develop innovative products and services. While preparing for a project to address innovation within health care, I was reading HBR's book on Innovation. One of the chapters, by Hargadon & Sutton ("Building an Innovation Factory") is an interesting overview of the process of knowledge brokering (rooted in the work of Thomas Edison). The authors highlight a four-part process for knowledge brokering, which is a great pragmatic approach to starting to try and repeat a process, rather than saying "then the magic happens...and we're really not sure how."

The Knowledge Brokering Cycle:
1. Capture Good Ideas
2. Keep Ideas Alive
3. Imagining New Uses for Old Ideas
4. Putting Promising Concepts to the Test

Within these steps, some other knowledge management basics are touched upon such as: (1) if you want more ideas, get smart and creative people to interact -- give them the space, technology and resources to do so; (2) leverage the concept of parallax -- look at items from multiple perspectives, industries, products and services; and (3) try to cultivate (and save) good organizational knowledge -- don't let your good ideas leave the company when a particular person leaves the company (unless directed by a judge).

The downer when reading these things or working on other knowledge projects is that I'm reminded of a "Ground Hog Day" / Sisyphus (not surprisingly, Murray is more accessible than Camus) nature of a lot of our problem solving works. It seems like we're continuing to work on the same problems. Elements change, but at times it seems like the same rock and the same mountain. However, as an old boss said, he'd rather we use our brains for thinking rather than remembering. If we can increase the organizational remembering, maybe we can think through more innovations.

Language Acquisition & Symbographic Research

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:26:00 +0000

I recently sat in on a lecture/salon regarding language acquisition research and it re-confirmed the power and value of SymbographicTM research to help understand the meaning, motive, emotion, and identity of constituent groups and audience segments.

As some of you know, my wife is in the data collection phase of her PhD dissertation. She is using a mixed-methods approach -- looking at motivation among middle school-aged students to persist or not in foreign language immersion programs. I sat in on a presentation she gave earlier in the week and saw some strong parallels in her research and those of my research and consulting background in communication and symbolic identity. Not to trivialize her research or over simplify it, but rather to keep this post a manageable length I’ll focus on two items – the value of Symbographic research in understanding your audience segments and the need to conduct research with your target customers and constituents.

1) In her research, she is seeing strong elements of motivation and identification that would not be picked up solely in a quantitative study. From a SymbolicID and Symbolic Convergence perspective this makes sense. While we may have people that are demographically and sociographically similar, their motives and identification with a foreign language are quite different. From a Symbographic perspective, some of the students persist for righteous reasons (they want to learn more, stretch the brain, etc. – which is quite interesting that middle-schoolers are that progressive), while others do it for more social reasons – family and peer group influence, or by learning other languages you can communicate with more people. Social reasons may exist for not persisting as well, as the kids are now feeling nervous about fitting in with their peers. I’m guessing there would be few pragmatic reasons for persisting in a language immersion program.

2) Another element in my wife’s research is way the students have been traditionally left out of the research. Some scholars are recognizing and calling for research with the students when discerning their motivation for persisting – not continuing to rely on the teachers and parents for data. This reminded me that we often gloss over the customer/end-user in our communication and research efforts, like the students have been in previous motivation research.

Take-Aways
1) Symbographic research provides valuable insight into the meaning, motive, identity and emotion of your consitituent groups and audience segments. By understanding the dramas (righteous, social, pragmatic, hybrid, or no vision) you can more effectively communicate with your audience than relying on your standard demo-, socio-, and psycho-graphic research.

2) Remember the end-user/customer in your research and design.

Podcasting Continues to Grow

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:00:00 +0000

From eMarketer & Universal McCann. Look at the global growth of podcasting (specifically, and social media generally). Now, compare that to the trend lines for appointment television and newspaper subscriptions. To paraphrase McLuhan, we are seeing a retribalization of society driven by electronic media...as the long-tail continues to stretch.

Kamen is working on a new type of prosthetic arm

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:54:00 +0000

As you know, I've been fascinated with TED.com as of late. Here's another great video from the site. It's Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway, talking about his new project.

Poetic Prophet - Waxin' and Milkin' All Your Suboptimized Sites

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 17:45:00 +0000

It's hard to be a prophet in your own town, especially when it comes to SEO, site conversion, and paid search. Let the Poetic Prophet drop some mad rhymez to help optimize.

Sanctioning Agent, out!

What's Your Connection Strategy?

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 12:12:00 +0000

Beyond brand and symbolic identity, you need to understand the technology that will be used to deliver your message and enable engagement with your stakeholders. The technology you choose creates structures that both enable and constrict future communication. Five years ago, we didn't think about gesture technology or a robust web browser on our phone. Five years from now, what will we have available? User experience and design elements will be challenged as we continue to move away from the standard keyboard, monitor, mouse framework.

Lying & Symbolic Identity

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:30:00 +0000

Hillary misspeaking...er, lying. about what happened in Bosnia 12 years ago may be her Howard Dean scream, the Quayle "potatoe" moment, Dukakis in an ill-fitting helmet riding in a tank, or a George Allen "macaca." One that reminds voters of what they might fear about the candidate and lets that dominate the media. Dean (crazy), Quayle (dumb), Dukakis (weak on military), and Allen (racist) become hard to shake when the candidate themeselves provide the ammo to "ground" a negative idenity. This nearly innoculates them from success as they reinforce a negative dramatic vision of their personae. Maybe Hillary can ask hubby Bubba how one should tell the truth. I did not have sexual relations with... Oh wait, he did.

Remember kids, you want a sane person on the other end of that red phone, not one that thinks she's under attack.

Take aways:
1. Meaning is co-created -- just because you say it doesn't make it so, your audience participates in the construction of a symbolic reality.
2. Today's technology and media cycles make it harder for you to try and recreate your image, especially when you leave behind such easy targets.

Gotta run, I'm under fire...head down, zig zag.

TED - Ideas Worth Spreading

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 02:42:00 +0000

I was recently turned onto TED by a coworker. TED stands for technology, entertainment, design. There's a lot of good, in depth content. In this nerd's opinion, Wow! What a great site. As a sampling, here's a video of Larry Lessig (Stanford prof and digital copyright authority). "TEDTalks" are also available via podcasts.

Yikes

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:16:00 +0000

Saw this on the 37 Signals blog. Crikey!! Cool, nightmare-inspiring, and all around sublime.

Spitzer Swallows…Hard

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 18:07:00 +0000

Happy St. Patrick’s Day and congratulations and best wishes to New York Governor David Patterson. Patterson takes over after a week of sordid and titillating news about Eliot Spitzer.

As the stories of Spitzer continue to come out, I wanted to highlight two symbolic identity elements involving the former gov and the now (in)famous Emperors’ Club.

First with Spitzer, he (and his political advisers) created a symbolic persona of one that fights crime and more specifically government corruption. This key element is now lost as he moved money around to hide the fact that he was spending thousands on prostitutes. His symbolic identity has imploded. All symbolic dramas have the seeds of their destruction sewn in there “genesis” story. When those items are no longer grounded in reality the vision collapses. Cheating one one’s spouse is not illegal, prostitution is. So, now the one wanting to stop corruption and crime, especially in government, becomes the criminal. From brand perspective, we need to be diligent about protecting and grounding an authentic persona with our constituents.

Now, a bit more lighthearted example with The Emperors’ Club. Part of the club’s appeal was to be highly educated, sophisticated women. Clearly, not the main value prop, but part of the identity. I liked seeing screen shots of the site (which has been disabled) with no apostrophe on the site design and what appears to be one of the product/services with a prison-yard tat on her hand. I suppose if you pay enough, you can stick the apostrophe anywhere you want.

(Hat tip to Andrew for the insight on the apostrophe.)

Take-aways:
Your symbolic identity already contains the seeds for its destruction.
When you can’t ground the vision, the vision declines (some more rapidly than others)

Social Not-Working

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 17:28:00 +0000

Last night I was at a MIMA event regarding branding in the “age of participation.” Interesting presentation by Rachel Marret of MRM Worldwide. Rachel talked about Mark Burnett (Survivor producer) saying that “9 – 5 is the new prime time” as more and more people use computers at work to update Facebook, go to spoiler sites, etc. Someone in the crowd (oh, the wisdom of crowds), referred to this phenomenon as social not-working. Good stuff.

Electric Kool Aid Reebok Test?

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 05:23:00 +0000

Reeboks that smell like Kool Aid? More at BrandWeek.

Pick your preferred glib comment:

1. I just hope the converse isn't true. (Pun intended)
2. I'm not drinking the Reebok Kool Aid
3. Where's my wallet?

Compact Disc (1982 – 2007)

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:52:00 +0000

R.I.P. Compact Disc. From today’s Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Once praised for its clear, crisp audio quality but panned for its susceptibility to scratches and smudges, the compact disc passed away in 2007 after a quick but painful illness. It was 25 years old.

You can read the entire obit here.

I’m guessing that the AP has the obit for appointment television already prepared.

(Thanks to Bret for the article.)