Here’s an extract from my interview at Streaming Media West about online video. September 24, 2008.
Alison van Diggelen: What is it about online video that’s making it so attractive these days? […] Can you expand a little bit on that and the kind of feedback you are getting from your customers?
Alison Jeske from drugstore.com: Definitely when people see products in action they get very excited about it. In the prestige beauty world we get to see exciting new designers like Vena Cava showcased in fashion week, we get to see Oscar Blandi doing “How can I get that second day hair look”,we have Tina Turnbow (our fabulous make-up artist that we work with) showing people how to take a day look to a night look. Those things on the prestige beauty site get our customers really excited. On the drugstore.com side, it’s very new for us. We have just been introducing some funnier videos showcasing toys and games for the holiday, so we’re definitely getting some wordings and interesting feedback from our customers on the drugstore.com side.
Alison: So you’re getting a lot of feedback from your customers?
AJ: It’s early launch, early indications are real positive but on the drugstore.com we’ve had videos for about 2 weeks now, and it’s still real early. We’re measuring impressions we’re getting from the customers and definitely some of the feedback. It’s early to tell on order impact and conversion but it looks promising.
Alison:That’s very exciting. Can you give an idea for how long these video clips are? Are we talking like 30 seconds, or longer than that?
AJ: Typically longer than that. We try to keep our clips to around 1 to 2 minutes but some of the ones we have from Fashion Week on our Beauty.com site can go between 3 and 4 minutes. You want it to be interesting enough to tell someone a story but not too long to where we lose people. So we try to balance that and that’s something we’re testing.
Alison: Do you feel you’re really on the cutting-edge of this, taking videos to the market?
AJ: I think we’re definitely in the early adopters – I think there is a lot of people doing it really well out there – eBags is a great example, REI is doing video. The real mavericks in this that have doing it for quite a while are QVC and the Home Shopping Network , they really kind of started translating their TV shows into the different medium. We’re excited to see where this can take us.
Alison: What are your expectations for this? Do you see being your main focus getting video streaming online?
AJ: We see this as mandatory going forward. Customers are demanding it, and we want to offer all the different ways to help a customer make a choice about a product that they want. We see this as a requirement to stay in the game.
Alison: What key message are you bringing today to the Video Commerce panel (you have a panel of four talking about the big picture)?
AJ: I think some of the key messages are that we still need to measure success. We’re excited about this opportunity but we still have to measure, and we’re still near the early stages. The other thing about video is that it’s that next evolution of going from product reviews where customers can describe right how they feel about a certain product and why they like it. Video brings reviews up to another level where we’re getting to the next evolution in the product life-cycle.
To find out more about the conference, and listen to the Fresh Dialogues interview click here
Fresh Dialogues talks to Alison Jeske of Beauty.com about the use of online video in marketing products to women. What is the optimum length of video and what gets women engaged and excited about their products?
Streaming Media Westarrived in Silicon Valley last week and assembled an impressive crowd of business and technology gurus. I had the pleasure of meeting some of the pioneers of new media production, including JD Lasica, Co-Founder of OurMedia.org, Sarah Szalavitz, Co-Founder & CEO of 7Robot, producer of Zaproot, a bite sized news show about the Green revolution. I was most impressed with Sarah’s savvy and her claim that her show is now more popular than Discovery and Treehugger. They even landed a deal last year to get paid for content. Sadly, she says, that window is now closed: the days of getting paid for content are over (for now at least).
So how can you make money on the web? The panel of New Media Production: Building an Independent Media Brand outlined two distinct business models. The first: find your niche, build your product with top quality content, grow your brand, build a community and get them involved: then you have a valuable community worth advertising to. OR, do like Will Coghlan, Co-Founder of Hudson Street Media use the web to showcase your work, build your reputation and use it as a calling card to open doors to sponsorship or VC funding. He’s still at it after 200 episodes of Political Lunch, a compelling lesson in tenacity right there.
Of special interest to Women’s Radio listeners was Adriana Gasgoigne, Director of Corporate Communications at hi5. and Co-Founder of Girls in Tech. This experienced host and vlogger (video blogger) can be found on Bubblicious, MeeVee, and TheWeakSpot. She emphasized the importance of networking and cultivating mentors for women working in new media technology.
I also spoke with Alison Jeske, Director of Product Management at Beauty.comand Drugstore.com where she’s using online video clips to drive traffic and conversion rates for her products. EBags and REI are already well in the game. Listen to this short interview to find out who is leading the field in this area; the optimum length of video clips and why she thinks this is a mandatory marketing tool for any business today.
Fun to see the Fresh Dialogues podcast picked up by the VideoRetailer website. Word certainly gets around fast!
On July 29th, a good friend dragged me along to the Commonwealth Club and introduced me to Stanford Prof, author and political activist, Lawrence Lessig.
lawrence lessig
Finding fame in the realm of open source and Creative Commons, this young 40-something from South Dakota recently changed his focus to political corruption and has mounted a fierce campaign to end such corruption in congress with his launch of a web-based movement: Change Congress. He considered running for congress himself, but instead has decided to put his profound skills to back a SV type strategy for change.
He describes it as “a google mashup for politics,” that will build a movement outside Congress.
The evening, hosted at the HQ of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation in Mountain View, was compelling, but left me feeling a little cynical. Lessig’s aims are not novel: end corruption in Congress. Wouldn’t we all like to take big money out of the political process? No brainer! Isn’t he a crazy idealist fighting a losing battle?
Maybe. But his powerful connections in SV and unique technical vision for change makes his story a compelling one.
Using maplight.org he plans to shine a spotlight on the funding behind bills in congress. He’s planning to use social networking and wiki approaches to uncover all the sly deals going on, and make public the money influencing those with the political clout. Ultimately, he envisions a map showing those congressmen and women who have signed on to beat corruption and distortion of public policy. For those who don’t, questions will be asked
Not surprised to finid out he’s an Obama supporter. Real change is what we’re all after right now. And ending corrupion is certainly a key part of that. Though I confess to still feeling rather unconvinced of Lessig’s ability to deliver a totally transparent, corruption-free Congress, I applaud his efforts. Moving in the direction of a transparent congress will certainly help our country.
One final note that cheered me…Lessig was originally a young Republican stalwart, but spending time in my alma mater, Cambridge, England disabused him of such right wing notions. Welcome to the club, Lawrence!
Alison interviews Silicon Valley based Alina Libova, a rising star in the tech world at SDForum’s 2008 Teens Plugged In Conference. Alina attracted over 300,000 users for her new Facebook application. How did she do it and who inspired her? (hint: one of Google’s most glamorous stars)
Yesterday’s Teens Plugged InConference, organized by SDForum, Silicon Valley’s excellent networking and relationship builder, was a feast of youthful exuberance. HP’s auditorium in Palo Alto was overrun with young geeks from 14 to 21 who were excited to share their thoughts, sell their companies (yes: some are already CEOs) and get more funding for their tech based philanthropic enterprises. Susan Lucas-Conwell, SDForum’s chief, did a masterful job keeping the peace when Internet connections stalled at 9 am, (how can this happen in the epicenter of Silicon Valley?), but technology prevailed and soon it was on with the show.
Anshul Samar, the 14 year old CEO of Alchemist Empire launched his PowerPoint with the panache of a seasoned techy, explaining his biz opportunity: combining kids’ need to have fun with parents’ desire to educate their kids. After launching the idea for his battle-making game that teaches chemistry at last year’s conference, he’s already raised some capital and is poised to take it further. “Being in Silicon Valley makes it impossible NOT to be an entrepreneur,” enthused Samar. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for that name in the future.
Notre Dame Junior, Sejal Hathi dominated the teen panel with eloquent answers and details of her philanthropic venture: Girls Helping Girls, an international girl empowerment program fostering links between US schools and developing countries. Go girls!
Talking philanthropy, I got the chance to interview Salina Truong for my Women’s Radio show. She works with Gumball Capital, a clever nonprofit based at Stanford that seeks to teach students about microfinance by giving them this challenge: here’s a loan for $27 and 27 gumballs, go out and use your entrepreneurial smarts and make it grow. The proceeds? They’re sent to enterprising charities like kiva.com If you want to hear about some of the creative projects and how much they raised, check out my radio show Silicon Valley Talks next week.
Finally and perhaps most impressive of all, I interviewed Alina Libova, the unassuming 19 year old who created an Easter Egg application using the Facebook framework, garnered 300,000 users and recently sold it to Thingi. A turning point for her was hosting a Vista Party at Foothill College, that drew over 300 attendees….this while she was still a high school student in Mountain View. Alina is transferring from Cal Poly to Cal next Fall and is bursting with ideas. With success like that, and her quiet yet compelling personality, she looks like a rising star. If you want to hear more from Alina about her inspiration and future plans, check out my radio show next week.
And one last note for those who lament the end of kids reading real books and losing the art of face to face communication, one teen panelist gave a glowing endorsement for Dale Carnegie’s classic “How to win friends and influence people.” I wonder what advice Carnegie would give for navigating Facebook, winning online friends and not sullying your employment prospects, 5 years down the line?
From the siliconmom column archives by Alison van Diggelen March 2000
This winter, I joined the throngs in Silicon Valley who proudly parade their Palm Pilots. I learned to cherish mine like a last remnant of umbilical cord, keeping me afloat in the heady seas of Dot Com Mania.
However I soon learned that respect for my human limitations is a key part to living in harmony with a Palm. My mistake was thinking that the control of my whole life could fit into the palm of my hand.
It’s fascinating to see Palms pop up everywhere from the board room, the student book-store to the Children’s Discovery Museum. Forget flashy cars, cool khakis and teeny weenie cell phones. The latest and greatest fashion statement in the valley is the Palm Pilot.
Typical example: last month’s job faire in Santa Clara. Thousands of techies milling around, checking out the gold mining potential of over 200 recruiting companies. “Pre-IPO” banners shone like glistening Sirens.
The old fashioned way of passing out a whole forest of business cards is now pass‚. With your Palm, you can politely ask, “Do you Beam?” With one press of the button, your card is automatically transferred to the recipient. Looking cool and saving a few trees in the process is an instant recipe for feeling good about yourself.
I spent six solid hours plugging in the contents of my business calendar, my social appointments, address book, miscellaneous reminders and Christmas list. There were still 1159 kilobytes of memory available, confidently awaiting my next few thousand appointments, like an enthusiastic boss, certain of my future success.
On screen, my life looked so simple, a breeze. I found myself saying “How could I have lived without one?”
It was satisfying to see how my day looks, my week, the coming year. I got a heady feeling from shrinking my hectic life and my children’s schedules into the palm of my hand. Now, at last I’ll have control over my life, I thought.
The built in secretary reminder saved me on countless occasions. Not just for work appointments, but mundane stuff like getting kids to sports practice on time, returning library books, knowing when the cat needs vaccinations, even when my mother needs a call.
It’s perfect for early senility. Just plug in the information and it will beep you every time you have to eat, put the trash out, take your tablets, get dressed or go to bed.
Problem is, I started to get carried away and scheduled how my day would run in half hour intervals. Work time, kid time, nature time, couple time, social time, reading time, TV time. Shocked at how much of the day I spent in bed, I scheduled myself to get up at 5 am not 6 and marked it, “work out time, creativity time.”
My sense of control and calm lasted about a month and then I started feeling like a frazzled operator. My incessantly beeping Palm, was taking over. I felt overwhelmed by the relentlessness of its annoying reminders.
My schedule didn’t account for gnarled traffic, fickle kids, meetings over-running, my husband’s deadlines, unforeseen accidents, and sickness.
I was waking, working, eating and breathing to the beep of the Palm’s schedule. Constantly trying to keep up with the machine, I became quite manic, sleep deprived and way out of control. A slave to the Palm.
At the end of a long day in January, through the haze, a reality check hit. I sang the children’s bedtime song
He’s got the whole world in his hands
He’s got you and me sister in his hands
He’s got you and me brother in his hands
“How big God’s hands must be….. all of us in his hands?” My four year old remarked.
I realized why this Palm was not working for me. I had lofty ambition. Trying to fit my whole world into the palm of my hand is not for a mere mortal like me. To push, prod and schedule every last activity, even the lumpy ones into a space the size of a mango is absurd. Some things can’t be forced. Creativity, meeting children’s needs, spontaneity, and impulsive charity can’t be scheduled. They need room, wide open space to breath, even to happen.
So, I’ve decided to have a Palm sabbatical and regain some control. I’m going back to the old fashioned calendar system for a while. That is, until they invent the Palm LV. You know, the one that will simultaneously give you complete digital control over your rambunctious toddlers, your workaholic husband and your waistline.
I also spoke with Alison Jeske, Director of Product Management at 
