Given the short week, Vantage Points is taking the week off as far as new posts are concerned. Stealing a page (and a title) from our friends in the TV and radio businesses, we are digging into the archives for some of our favorite undiscovered  posts:

Rebuilding the way we look at Green Building: Most people assume green building is expensive. An interesting post about a recent study published by Good Energies, a global energy efficiency and renewable energy investment company, shows some surprising conclusions about green building costs…

Millionaire Cat - Marketing Promotion Hits the Litter Box: Channel surfing last night, I came across Meow Mix Think Like a Cat Game Showwhich purported to be the first game show in which “catestants” (I did not make that one up) and their owners compete as a team for $1 million….

A Global PR Perspective: Differences in China and the United States: High tech companies are eager to enter the Chinese market for its endless opportunities, and successful PR will help them to engage the local markets….

It begins with energy…: Green building in particular is thriving in America right now.  Michael Kanellos of Greentech Media said it best yesterday, “For green building companies, the good times have just begun.”…. 

We hope you enjoy these posts and will be back with fresh ones next week. Have a great holiday weekend and stay cool!

In the latest issue of BusinessWeek, there is an in depth piece on cloud computing – Cloud Computing’s Big Bang for Business. One of the sidebars includes a piece on Coca-Cola as an example of a company using a cloud-based system to streamline distribution. In a nutshell, 12,000+ store merchandisers (the guys in the red trucks that stock the Diet Coke at your local grocery store) no longer have to pick up instructions at the warehouse every morning before they head out on their route. “Using smartphones and a cloud computing setup…they stay in constant touch with their bosses and the company’s information storehouse. At the end of each stop, they complete online surveys that give the company a complete picture…in real time.”

This article is one of many recent cloud computing articles, which can make it look like cloud computing is the answer to almost any business problem imaginable. But can cloud computing alone ensure correct, on-time deliveries and solve all of the supply chain problems within large organizations such as Coca-Cola?

In PR, we are always mindful of the hype cycle…when a technology becomes the hot new thing and then becomes over-hyped. Often the interest in the new technology can overshadow the many other technologies it takes to provide a complete solution. For companies like Coca-Cola, the cloud computing infrastructure needs to work in combination of a large number of IT and supply chain management hardware and software.  Over time, reality sets in and the technology loses its youthful allure. Even as the technology matures and gains more widespread adoption, it likely will not be considered as newsworthy as the latest thing.

For example, I recently wrote about RFID, which not too long ago was considered a red hot technology.  Today it’s used for solving multiple business problems ranging from tracking items from the warehouse to the distribution plants to the store shelves, and everywhere in between. Using RFID, if a Coca-Cola employee were to pick up the wrong pallet, he would immediately realize it before hitting the road. More businesses are adopting RFID, even though  it is not garnering national magazine coverage like it once did.

Cloud computing and mobile devices are very important business technologies that justifiably are  getting national magazine headlines. But it’s also important  not to forget that these technologies are only a small piece of a much bigger puzzle.

Good news came out of the economy last week.  Yes, you read that correctly - GOOD news.  According to The Pew Charitable Trusts, clean energy jobs grew nearly two and a half times faster than overall jobs in the U.S. between 1998 and 2007.  The jobs weren’t in one or two states - they spanned all 50 states, with the majority in California and Texas, and the total number is 770,000.  That is good news, but those numbers are from before we took a dive into this recession…

Here comes the so what…

The same report states that they believe the nation is poised to significantly continue expansion of those same clean energy jobs.  The report states, “looking forward, the clean energy economy has tremendous potential for growth, as investments continue to flow from both the government and private sector and federal and state policy makers increasingly push for reforms that will both spur economic renewal and sustain the environment.”  They don’t point to hard numbers, but they say it is expected.  I know, that may not seem like news given all of the incentives and bills being passed by the current administration, but it is news.  It is a third party validating the claims we read about every day.

There are many next steps to help this growth even more, but I tend to agree with Marc Gunther, one great next step is to pass a Cap and Trade program.  Cap and Trade would set a limit on carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel and offer financial incentives for doing so.  Many renewable energy companies would be able to sell more product because they would reduce emissions for the end user - and thus, some experts predict would create more jobs.  Time will tell.

I was recently watching the Eastern Conference Finals, Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Orlando Magic, when my cable went out due to a typical Florida thunderstorm. It was in the fourth quarter with minutes left, so I quickly pulled out my computer to live stream the game. Just then it hit me: TV has evolved into the Age of Digital Media.

In today’s social media environment, video networking sites are popping up over night. As we enter the next-generation of TV, digital media is engaging customers worldwide and TV no longer a single platform for viewership. Missed an episode of The Office? Simply visit Hulu.com – NBC Universal’s latest venture in video networking – and watch the entire show online. Looking for that viral video that everyone is talking about, check out funnyordie.com or youtube.com, two websites that combine user-generated and exclusive content.

With the advancements of social media, consumers are no longer just watching music videos, TV episodes or other shared content. Instead, they are taking viewership to a completely new level by posting feedback on discussion boards or participating in chat rooms to share opinions on the recent cliffhanger, season finale episode of LOST.

With today’s media advancements, what will the future hold? Without a doubt, online video consumption will continue to increase. With the rise of bandwidth intensive services, service providers will consistently need to evolve platforms to satisfy customer demand. You will also see more broadcast stations launch in-depth, web-based applications to reach younger consumers. Finally, we might see customers asking themselves, “Do I really need that flat screen television when I can just use my personal computer to view live streaming video?”

Popular social networks, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter seem to  think that they would be better if they more like one of the other social networks. Instead, they really should follow the advice of Popeye whose motto was “I yam what I yam, and that’s all that I yam.”

LinkedIn: LinkedIn has developed a case of Facebook envy. Each person’s page now has a Facebook-like status box at the top asking “What are you working on now?”.  I can’t recall anyone actually using this box (other than reposts from Twitter or Facebook). 

Attaching a social element to LinkedIn is the equivalent of a three piece suit with a backwards baseball cap. People use LinkedIn because it is all business. This means there is no risk of an embarrassing photo turning up in a search by a potential employer or customer.

Facebook: Facebook is turning itself into Twitter with pictures. A person’s home page is now dominated by Twitter-like status updates, accompanied by photos and attachments. Welcome to the slide show from Hell.  Facebook now puts pictures of kids, pets, and vacations front and center on a daily basis. As much I like keeping up with friends and family, I prefer the ability to decide when and if I want to see another cute cat picture or a 2×3 picture of someone’s dinner.

Once popular Facebook applications have been moved to the four corners of the site. Once popular applications like Superpoke (thowing sheep!) , Funwall and “Cities I Have Visited” now are the Web 2.0 equivalents of Golden Oldies that evoke nostalgia for a bygone era. While many of these applications were time wasters, Facebook is draining the social part that makes it unique.  

People who are power status updaters eventualy move to Twitterand and make Facebook a secondary source via an application that posts their tweets on Facebook. Take a look at your Facebook news stream and you will likely see many standard Twitter abbreviations and hashtags. More and more, Facebook  is making it seem like all of the action is on Twitter.

Twitter: Twitter’s identity crisis revolves around what is wants to be when it grows up. Twitter still does not have a viable revenue model. In a recent blog post, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said that it is looking  at account authentication, management tools, and discovery mechanisms. Twitter has done some preliminary experiments with advertising on user’s profile page.

But I think that they will look to follow Google and monetize on search. By virtue of Twitter posts mostly being public,  a company can search Twitter to find out what people are saying about them, their competitors, and the hot issues in the markets in near real-time. Twitter can derive revenue from selling ads on search pages, premium search tools, or making a deal with with one of the large search companies.

Sticking to short communications in real time and monetizing like Google should be a personality that wears well for Twitter.

On our drive home from the office the other night, while driving through a residential neighborhood in the pouring rain, I came to the embarrassing and distressing realization that we were completely out of gas.  I hurried to try to reach the gas station that was less than a mile away when the car began to sputter and we were left motionless on the side of the road.  I used my GPS-enabled iPhone to call AAA and give them the exact location of our car.  They informed me that the wait would be about 45 minutes and my wife, my 7-month old daughter, and my 3-year old daughter began a long, uncomfortable wait with me. 

My wife and I both knew that there was a gas station less than a ½ mile away.  She quickly pointed out to me that before technology, I would have gotten out of the car and walked in the rain to be a “knight in shining armor” to her and our two daughters.  Instead, there I sat, breathing the stale air of a disabled automobile, ashamed for not checking the gas and leaving my family stranded for 45 minutes while we wait on a tow truck driver to be the hero for my family.    

This got me thinking.  Has technology killed the chivalrous man?

I asked some female friends and colleagues if they felt the same way, and got some interesting stories:

• Rather than a card and flowers, my friend Amanda recently got a simple text message from her boyfriend that read, “Happy Valentine’s Day!”
• Rachel noted that since buying a car with remote door locks six years ago, her husband has not opened the car door for her even once. 
• Ashley recently went on a first date with a guy who “poked” her on an Internet dating site.  When he arrived at her apartment he called from his cell phone to let her know he was downstairs waiting for her in his car.
• Melanie says that she and her husband had a long standing tradition of going out to dinner and a movie every Friday night, but in the 6-months since her husband discovered On-Demand movies on cable, the routine has turned into leftovers and a movie on the couch much to her dismay.

For the record, I don’t think I was non-chivalrous by not walking ½ mile in the rain.  I think I made the smart and logical choice.  Personally, I’m not sure that technology has killed chivalry; I think that technology just gives some men an excuse to let it fade away.

Earth Day has come and gone, but at Vantage we definitely made the most of the special day. In fact, we started celebrating a week early and how else, but with a party! Actually, 2 parties in 2 cities. On Thursday, April 16 we brought together about 200 business, government and media folks for the Vantage Communications Bi-coastal Earth Day event. Offices in both San Francisco and Orlando celebrated Earth Day with networking, food and giveaways – with all proceeds benefiting the United States Green Building Council.

In San Francisco, at a special one night opening of the Autodesk Gallery, Vantage gathered with influential green individuals to network and share insights. The evening also featured a panel with speakers from the USGBC-NCC, San Francisco’s Green Building, Forbes Magazine, Autodesk, and Serious Materials who discussed “Sustainable Innovation in a Recession.” In case you missed the live streaming of the event, you can watch it here:

Vantage Communications Earth Day Panel

The Orlando green community gathered at the local Taste Restaurant, where a good time was had by all with drinks, savory appetizers and giveaways from local businesses and green companies. An evening of networking included guests from the local USGBC, Green Cities and CoLab Orlando.

For all who joined us, we hope the evening was as fun and meaningful for you as it was for us in making it happen. You also can see photos from the evening here.

Recently, the Wall Street Journal reported that AT&T is looking to extend its exclusive deal with Apple to sell in the United States until 2011. This news is not particularly surprising considering the company’s business model for the popular handset.  AT&T’s iPhone business model is like a crack addiction. It delivers a short term high, then sinks into an addiction and ends badly.

The High:Selling iPhones for less certainly helps increase Apple’s sales volume and AT&T’s short term bottom line. There were 1.6 million new iPhone subscribers on AT&T’s network in Q1 2009, with 40% of  those customers new to AT&T. According to the New York Times, iPhone customers are particularly valuable because their average bill is 60 percent higher than the company’s overall customer base. The Times estimates that iPhone exclusivity generates $700 million per year in operating profits.

The Addiction: Where’s the problem in millions of profitable new customers?  As I discussed in AT&T’s Value to iPhone Users: Negative $400/phone?!, these customers are really Apple’s  with little loyalty to AT&T.  AT&T’s business model is based on subsidizing the cost of the iPhone and making its profits from high monthly fees over the life of a 2 year contract. The Wall Street Journal estimates that it has spent upwards of $1.3 billion to discount the iPhone.  So the company relies on higher service fees that is supported through exclusivity.

Given this business model, you would expect that AT&T would make its customers feel like they get great value and service from the carrier to mitigate the effects on the eventual loss of exclusivity. Unfortunately, they do exactly the opposite.  Despite claims of the fastest 3G network,  a Gartner research study found that AT&T customers often receive half the advertised data rate.  Contact from AT&T is pretty much limited to the bill and text messages upselling higher priced services. The popular applications come from Apple and not AT&T. So customers get cheap phones and applications from Apple, and poor service and high fees from AT&T. Not surprisingly,  iPhone customers love Apple. AT&T? Not so much.

 It Ends Badly:  So, what happens when the exclusivity ends? On this issue, iPhone customers fall with three categories: customers who will leave AT&T as soon as they have an alternative, customers who might stay with enough incentives, and AT&T employees. Without customer loyalty, the company will take a significant revenue hit both from lost customers and additional subsidies and lower monthly frees that will be required to keep existing customers.

So AT&T is left with two expensive choices. To feed the addiction caused by its business model, it can pay Apple dearly to extend the exclusivity. Also, Apple will likely hold AT&T’s feet to the fire regarding expensive service upgrades to its 3G network.  Still, this only  staves off the inevitable. Eventually, exclusivity will end. At that time, profits will drop through defections to other providers and lower monthly fees. Cutting corners on communications combined with a poor business model always is very expensive.

Last night Pepcom put on their first EcoFocus event in New York City. And in the Flatiron District, almost 200 press and analysts came for free food, drinks and to experience demos from eco-friendly companies looking to get their name out there. Known for putting on mostly Mobile and Digital Technology-focused events, Pepcom moved into the new, clean tech space - and I think most vendors and attendees would agree it was a success.

While some may not be totally sold on global warming and much of the green talk that surrounds us today, this event clearly was evidence that green is more than a fad, it is an area of true innovation and growth. The vendors at last night’s event inlcude big names, like Toshiba, Lenovo and Benjamin Moore, who are recreating the wheel to become more environmentally conscious. But there also were smaller companies, such as SOMS Technologies (our client), CALMAC (our client), Green Roads and Pisat Solar, who were showcasing their innovation and passion for the environment.

The faces behind these businesses, both big and small, have a common goal - to make a positive impact on our environment. They are challenging convention, and working to change our oh so traditional behaviors to become a smarter, savvier, more eco-conscious society.

Clean technology isn’t only an expanding industry. But what this event clearly demonstrated is that it is an area of true belief, one that people have a renewed passion for. Most importantly, it is one that is and will be making a significant, positive impact for years to come.

The first U.S. Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970, as a day to inspire awareness and appreciation for our Earth. It was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson, and today, 39 years later, I think we can all agree that Senator Nelson would be proud of what Earth Day has become.

There are some that scoff at the idea, claiming Americans stop wasting for one day a year, and then return to our consumer-driven lives. But I think our country has finally taken notice of the destruction we’ve caused, and this Earth Day, things are different. In the past, Earth Day has come and there was almost no mention – this year, it’s all over my Twitter feed, I’m reading about things I can buy and get tax credits for and I’m thinking about what food to buy before I just throw it in my basket

So join in the festivities today, and every day. And let me be one of many people who wishes you “Happy Earth Day” today.