Luckily, it has a great team, including Daria Shualy, Yael Givon, and Yariv Habut, all are friends and experienced media and tech folks. I had a chance to chat with them a bit:

1. What’s sense of fashion?
Sense of Fashion is home to all indie fashion lovers: fashionistas, designers, fans, fashion students, street fashion bloggers, photographers, anyone who expresses themselves through fashion. It’s a real live place, where all these people can interact in a genuine way, influence, get inspired, sell and shop.

2. Who should go to this site?
Anybody who expresses themselves through fashion, or who wants to get inspired by people who do. Anybody looking to buy a unique fashion item, which no one else has, for a reasonable price and perhaps from a far away land. Anyone who’s looking for a platform to show off and sell their designs. Someone who’s experiencing a fashion emergency, and wants a real live feedback.

3. Is it another social network?
It has social features, but it is a lot more than that. What it does, really, is imitate the real live experience of the indie fashion world off-line, instead of the segregated (a site which is only meant for shopping, or sites just for show-offers etc.) experience most fashion web sites offer today.

4. What’s the difference between that and Ebay or Etsy?
The difference is huge. First and foremost, Sense of Fashion is ONLY about FASHION. You’re not selling a fabulous dress next to a lawn mower or a burp cloth set. Second, since it’s not only for designers, and lots of fashionistas are active users on the site, the designers get a real live clientèle base to interact with*. Third, you can upload an unlimited amount of fashion-photos for free, which enables designers, photographers, students and stylists to use it as an online portfolio, and by doing so, really bring together in one place all the various elements which compile the indie fashion scene. Oh, and of course, our sales commission is lower, we currently do not charge a listing fee, and there’s no expiration date on the photos.

5. How do you see the role of social web elements in your site as a part of your future success?
Well, our business model is based on commerce (sales commission) and the social interaction enhances commerce, just like it does in real life. You see what other people are wearing, and their on-photo tags or descriptions tell you where they got it. If it’s from a designer on the web site, and you buy it, that’s another sale. If it’s outside the site, it goes to a future part of the business plan which has to do with affiliates.

Good luck guys in changing the world of fashion!

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The event is taking place on the 13th of July.

See you all there!

Dear Mr. Jobs,

I was happy to hear that soon you’ll be back at the helm of the most inspiring company in the market today. We are all looking forward to your next keynote.

However, I have a request for you - please don’t forget your Pro users. And no, I am not talking about Final Cut Studio 3.

I have a Mac for couple of years, and I’ve become one of the most active Mac ambassadors in Israel. I have a video podcast called Mac Anonymous, the first Hebrew video podcast about Mac. I’ve written several blogs about Mac and the transition from PC, and convinced many of my friends to buy one, even though they cost so much in Israel.

When asked what do I like Mac so much, I would say two things:

1. I see my laptop more than anything else during the day, so it better be beautiful.

2. With a Mac, the gap between vision and reality is a single click, with Final Studio and iLife.

However, I am afraid that Apple’s latest announcements are changing my second statement.

Two main hardware changes makes it extremely difficult to use your laptops as creative hub:

1. Removal of one firewire port

2. Removal of Express Card slot

Now it is impossible to capture HDV with 15″ Macbook Pro - one needs two FW ports for that (one for the camera and one for a fast hard disk), and there is only one in the latest models. This could have been bypassed with an Express Card Firewire adapter - but it was removed as well.

A lot of Pro equipment is using Express Card slot. I am using a mobile editing, high performance F2 Sonnet HD. I Can’t use it with the new laptops. Matrox released some amazing capture devices using Express Card - bye bye to those as well. So if I want to use  my laptop and  HDV camera, the same format used by indie filmmakers, ENG and video bloggers, I have to buy 17″ Macbook Pro - an able machine, that is way too large,  heavy and expensive for my needs.

I love Final Cut Studio. You changed the market with its features and pricing. I love the fact that I can use my laptop for my day to day work and for my video editing.

But it feels that you are neglecting the pro users.

I hope we will see more pro features in the Macbook Pro line.

Sincerely Yours,

Kfir Pravda

—————————————-

This letter was sent to Steve Jobs’ email, found in online forums. I have no way to validate this address. It will be helpful if you’ll share and retweet it as much as possible.

Thanks!

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I was sick last week, and that’s why I didn’t post anything lately. Now I am back to work, and this blog will be updated as usual.

Digitas produced a great event called Digital Content Newfront couple of weeks ago, as a part of NYC Internet Week.

And I was an active participant, even though I was thousands of miles away.

The event covered brand marketing strategies, and was keynoted by Al Gore, who discussed Viewers Generated Ads, a strategy that let viewers create ads for brands. Mr. Gore talked extensively about the need for authenticity in brand marketing, a tricky topic for cigarettes and oil companies.
I was interested to hear Al Gore’s take on that - so with a simple twit, I’ve sent a question to the conference, from my living room in Israel. My friend Jon Burg who was moderating incoming twitter questions, asked the question at the event - and Gore responded simply by saying that they don’t work with such companies. I was a part of the whole thing as I watched the live video feed from NYC.
The amazing part of the story is not that I was able to see a video stream of a remote event and ask a question. This was done before with ustream and blog.tv. The important point here is that these technologies are now mature enough:

• The video feed was crisp and almost without any buffering. From urls of the event I believe it is the work of Bitgravity, an affordable HD CDN.
• The room was covered with multiple cameras using Tricaster , a low cost video mixer.
• And Twitter was pretty stable.

So I was in my PJ, at home, talked with one of the brightest minds, Al Gore, all thanks to usable, affordable technologies.

The Physical walls are falling. The only barrier for communication is willingness.

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HP Recently released a new service called Gabble, a private video sharing site. The service is very simple - users can create groups and directly record and share videos with their friends and co-workers. The interface is slick and straight forward, and works well.
The need for cloud based video service with advanced privacy settings is clear - companies, consultants, and family members can use it for business communication, training, and share their private family videos. Also, media companies can use such a product to interact with their viewers, and integrating UGC in their content in a controlled environment.

This is also the announced direction of Seesmic, as Loic Le Meur stated in an interview I did with him back in January.
Though the need is clear, it is not clear whether HP have what’s needed to make this platform succesful. It is almost an industry secret, not being pushed through HP’s PR and ads.
Also, the execution is less than great, as in most of my tests I’ve encountered video and invitation issues (the two key parts of the platform…)
It is yet to be seen when we will have a platform that answers the need for private video sharing with social elements. Currently, HP Gubble is definitely not the answer.

How wrong can a YouTube competition get  http://bit.ly/cNKdd

Justin.tv becomes more social   http://bit.ly/1aKVNF

How can I share video on Twitter?   http://bit.ly/Jecii

Concrete news about Hulu’s international expansion  http://bit.ly/18u7Aw

Japan was always a mystery for me. Its culture and industry is so different from the American and European  markets that I am well versed in. That’s why I spent some time talking with a friend who knows a thing or two about the Japaneese media market, Levi Shapiro. Levi worked in several Japaneese and media companies, so he knows the market pretty well.

Levi, what is your experience in the Japanese market?

I spent 6 years in Tokyo working in the Overseas Marketing Division of Toyota Motor Corporation. In addition, I have helped a variety of Western digital media and mobile companies with Japan market-entry. My consulting firm, TMT Partners, has an affiliate in Tokyo.

What makes the Japanese media so different from the US? and from Europe?

Japan is a highly concentrated market. For example, DoCoMo controls 50% of the mobile market, Dentsu handles more than one quarter of the $34 billion spent on advertising per year, and Yahoo Japan owns more than 60% of its sector. The limited fragmentation means that the best path to market is often collaboration with a local partners. For example, one of the reasons Yahoo Japan has such a dominant position in Japan (#1 portal, #1 in search and #1 in auctions) is their joint venture partnership with Softbank.

What are the main challenges that Japanese media companies are facing in the local and global market?

Innovation. Japan tends to be extremely responsive to the needs of their home market but has difficulty responding at “start-up speed” for trends that begin outside of Japan.

What are the opportunities for startups in that market?

It may surprise many Israelis to know that when I worked at Toyota, we were grateful for innovative ideas that could help the company do our business more efficiently. The challenge is learning how to reach Japanese customers and adjusting your work style to the Japanese business culture.
What are the two most important do’s and don’t’s when doing business in Japan?

Do:

Invest time in building a network of relationships within a particular company- Japanese companies are highly hierarchical. At Toyota, we had lifetime employment. Typically, a Toyota staff would work in one division for 5 years and then be transferred to a completely unrelated department. It is important to meet as many people as possible as your counterpart in marketing may be transferred to some other division next month. Moreover, decisions tend to be bottom-up, with the most senior person simply approving the consensus decision of the team. It is essential to take the time to persuade all members of a work group, including the Junior staff, about the validity of your idea. That Junior staff may be your greatest advocate internally.

Don’t:

Avoid confrontation. The most important business concept in Japan is “Wa”, or  harmony. Japanese culture loathes direct confrontation. If you would like to share a candid opinion with your Japanese colleagues, do it in an informal environment away from the office. When I was at Toyota, we had business related social events about two nights per week. These were mandatory and often was the place where I learned how my colleagues REALLY felt about a particular project. No matter how busy your schedule is in Japan, it is a valuable use of time to take your Japanese colleagues to dinner.

Levi Shapiro, a fluent Japanese speaker,  is a wireless and digital media industry expert who has founded three digital media companies and sits on the board of four others. Through his consulting firm, TMT (Technology, Media & Telecom) Partners, Levi helps digital media and mobile start-ups with strategy, business development and market entry. He can be reached at Levi.Shapiro@gmail.com

Levi is hosting an event about doing business in Japan. More details here.

140 Character Conference, Jeff Pulver’s latest event is taking place in Mid June. The speaker list is very impressive, and encompasses some of the biggest names in Twitterverse and most forward thinking marketers around us.

If you are in NYC or tristate area - I recommend checking out this event.

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New York Times are fairly advanced in the US journalism field. I use their iPhone Application regularly, and enjoy their well produced videos.

But their new application won’t change a thing.

Unlike Serege Jespers, who in his post announced that this application is the future of journalism, it is still based on the idea that people will subscribe to NYT content, and pay for it. And this is yet to be seen. Ok, I am way too kind - IT DOESN’T WORK.

Why should I pay for their content if so much of it is free? And does the NYT really believe that a well developed application change the fundamental flaw in their industry?

I hope, for them, that this isn’t the case.

Why … do I take the time to use social media like Twitter and Facebook? …. Because there is no better way to engage the various audiences that are important in my professional and personal life.

…Your involvement in social media will grow your brand, strengthen the connection between you and your company’s key audiences, and keep you aware of what’s really happening with your business. It’s well worth the time investment….

No, these are not the quotes of a social media consultant. Refreshingly, these are the words of a CMO of a well known company.

When I came across the interview of Jeffery Hayzlett, Kodak’s CMO I was excited to see a top executive who is actually using social web for his work on a daily basis, without the usual huha around it. When asked about the root of his involvement in social media he said:

I first started using social media to keep in touch with family. I soon realized the benefits of updating my fellow employees, our customers, even the media and anyone else who wants to keep updated on what’s happening with Kodak marketing.

When asked about authenticity of his online persona:

it’s important that people hear from the real me. I’ve had people ask me if I do my own posts (I do — you can’t fake it with social media). I’m just a guy from South Dakota with a really cool job, so I can’t help getting excited at some of the great things we do.

Many of my customers are asking about ROI. His answer:

We have seen very tangible returns from our participation in social media, including traditional media coverage, sales leads, increased customer consideration and direct product purchase.

And when talking about integration of social tools in their marketing operation:

Of course, social media is a part of Kodak’s integrated-marketing approach and much of it is managed by employees like me with other full-time jobs

Not everyone were happy as I am when they read it. One commenter wrote:

Mr. Hayzlett might be better off spending less time twittering and blogging and working on comprehensive marketing plans aimed at addressing the critical failures of the past few years. Twitter is a tool, Jeff.

Though I agree with Jeffery in almost everything he wrote, his closing argument is a bit tricky:

Your involvement in social media will grow your brand, strengthen the connection between you and your company’s key audiences, and keep you aware of what’s really happening with your business. It’s well worth the time investment.

I completely agree - but it works only if done right, as an integral part of overall marketing and company activities, by enthusiastic employees who love the social web and use it in their private life as well.

You can read the full article here.

Follow Jeffery Hayzlett and me on Twitter

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