Gretchen Hauselt

Hi Gretchen – Nice post! I love music, not a huge Twitter fan, but live event streaming may make me rethink Twitter! I can see live stream as being a huge benefit for artists to connect with their fans, as well as a way for fans to connect with other fans. I can see many uses for live streaming for events like this, it creates exposure to more people on a much grander scale; the event is local but the exposure if global. Live Nation is certainly looking for new and exciting way to connect their core user base to the music they love. I wrote a post about Live Nation connecting with Pennzoil sponsoring Garage Sessions with 3 up an coming artists, http://digitalmarketing.temple.edu/hnelson/2019/10/25/how-does-motor-oil-and-music-mix/. Live Nation is certainly capitalizing all opportunities in digital ecosystem to keep them top of mind with their music fans; live streams and garage sessions are just a few.

Great analysis Gretchen. Interesting that the in-store experience is only available in app. Making an assumption that the app is geared towards loyalists and heavier shoppers, this seems like a missed opportunity. Wouldn’t these people be very familiar with the layout of the store?

Meanwhile, a new customer who has no clue what to do might “showroom” their store while they purchase a similar item from Amazon. Any ideas on how to adapt the experience to better assist those less familiar shoppers? Should Home Depot prioritize them or the heavier shoppers?

Hi Gretchen,

This is an interesting spin on social influence, unrelated to a brand or individual, but really creating an environment. I had a similar experience with a neighborhood Facebook group, when an individual rang my doorbell asking about my outdoor cat. Individuals in the neighborhood were worried that he was a stray, and took to the Facebook page to ask about his ownership. There were pictures of Monster all over town. He even goes by a new name, “Salami”, after a number of neighbors have “claimed” him.

Like you, I was fairly new to the area, and unaware of this group’s existence, but it has really improved my experience. I feel “in-the-know” when it comes to events, crimes, new shops, etc. and has certainly influenced some of my decisions. Additionally, I’ve recognized that it is actually a very tight knit community, with plenty of pets like my own that tend to stray from home and make friends with the neighbors. Similarly, I’ve followed a handful of local Instagram pages, posting food, events, etc. Often, I’ll share these images with friends and family saying “we should try this!” and can think of a handful of occasions where it has truly paid off, especially with some hidden gems. Now when travelling, I’ll continue this behavior and follow local Instagram pages for recommendations as opposed to relying on TripAdvisor or the like. It’s been great to find pages that reflect my interests, and be able to identify unique experiences as a result.

For me, there is more value in the relationships and experiences when joining groups and following accounts than doing so for product recommendations / brand promotion. From here on out, every time that I am somewhere new, I’ll look for opportunities like that you mentioned.

I’ve been fascinated by the impact of the Internet of Things on the home. And I was going to write my post on a related issue to yours Gretchen. IOT has been able to transform the way we interact with many things. I was thinking about this when I was looking at how many devices are connected to my home WIFI (I’m embarrassed to say how many) I have a couple Nest thermostats and maintaining temperature through my mobile device has changed the way I manage my temperature. And because I use Google Home, not only can I change the temperature when I’m away on the Nest Mobile app, but when I’m home I can ask Google to set the temperature. I saw some similarities with your Hydrawise example. The Nest system is also meant to reduce inefficiencies. For example, it has an auto aware feature that determines when you are not home and adjust the temperature. Likewise you can create a schedule based on a week schedule and time of day. I love the interface because it’s so simple to use and I know it has resulted in cost savings, because I’m not constantly adjusting the temperature and the app lets me know, by using a leaf icon, that I’m saving energy. Like you, my mobile connected device has saved me money and his increased my comfort. For example, if it’s really hot, I can turn the air-conditioning on before I leave week.

I’m really interested in how Google, Amazon, and Apple are creating these ecosystems of connected device that talk to each other and leverage data to create potential benefits that we might not even see. I think like in my example, what other devices could my Nest be talking to in order to achieve my goal of raising or lower the temperature.

Do you think we will continue to see these parallel ecosystems or will one emerge as the dominant force? Does one already have a clear lead (Amazon)?