Dopp Juice Archive

When the Internet became widespread, everything changed. Suddenly you could answer any trivia question in less than thirty seconds. You could send a letter and receive a response to it in the same day. You could market yourself to an international audience for free. You could carry on real-time text-based conversations with anyone anywhere in the world without long-distance fees. You got carpal tunnel syndrome. You became impatient. You forgot to go outside.

When cell phones became widespread, everything changed. Suddenly “being on call” for work or family no longer meant being tethered to a landline. You could get quick roadside assistance when you got a flat tire, anywhere. You could leave personal voicemails without fear of the wrong person hearing them. You could have a conversation with anyone anywhere in the country without long-distance fees. You hated rural areas because you couldn’t get a signal. Your lover became obsessive about checking in. You became obnoxious in public.

Now, cell phones with Internet are becoming widespread, and everything is changing. Suddenly you can check your email while you are crossing the street. You can blog (and post pictures of) what you’re doing while you’re doing it, and get immediate feedback on it from friends across the planet. You no longer need to ask for directions. You can answer any trivia question in less than thirty seconds while out for dinner with friends. You can have a voice conversation with anyone anywhere in the world without long-distance fees. You get into more car accidents. You perceive a half-hour delay in communication as a sign that your friend is tired of you. You stop paying attention to what’s actually happening right next to you altogether. You justify this by saying that you can’t be expected to do everything at once.

I commute to work on the MUNI (San Francisco’s municipal transit) and the BART (the bay area’s rapid transit), which means I see all the train station billboard ads. I have to admit, of all the ads I see in a day, these tend to be the best. And here’s a trend I’m seeing on the more successful ones: they include a new web address that starts with an action.

For example…

• http://www.letsmeetatstarbucks.com
• http://www.goruneasy.com (or http://www.cravethepain.com )
• http://www.showmeriskier.com (or http://www.showmesexier.com or http://www.showmecrazier.com or a whole slew of others)

And the common threads…

• With the exception of the first one on this list, you can’t always tell exactly what company is being advertised by looking at the URL.
• The website is interactive and community-oriented.
• The website is NOT the official company website.

And what are the benefits of this for the company?

• There’s a good chance all the noun-based URLs they’d want to use are taken. Verbs are the next frontier.
• By sending people to a campaign-specific website, they can monitor their campaign’s site traffic ROI without any confusion.
• They’re being hip and sexy. Not everyone’s caught on to this strategy yet. The curious are going to check it out.

And what does this mean for the rest of us?

• It’s okay to start using actions in your URLs. Starbucks is doing it. People will get it now.
• Domain name opportunists may want to start looking into likely action-based URLs related to big companies. I misremembered “letsmeetatstarbucks” and instead tried meetmeatstarbucks.com . It took me to http://www.bixbymusic.com. Nice work, guys.
• Billboard-to-web community-oriented marketing is being adapted with high visibility. Web 2.0 marketers, raise your rates!

Useful…

“People commit to a sale for three reasons, in this order: The first is chemistry — they have to like you. The second is your ability to solve their problem. The third is price.”

— Our Director of Strategy

Entertaining…

One of our clients turned to me at lunch and said, “You’re probably too young to remember the animated GIF, aren’t you?”