OK, I’ll admit it. I’m a sucker for new technology. This one really caught my eye!

As a pen and pencil artist, I love markers and colored pencils; but sometimes I just can’t find the right color for my drawing. With this pen, all I need to do is use the built-in scanner to capture the color of any “real world” object.

Then an on-board computer – tiny little thing, eh? – will mix the inks to match. I do have to question the designer’s understanding of inks and pigments when the description says:

…the RGB cartridge located within the pen mixes the inks to create the color scanned.

RGB? What happened to CMYK?

Designer Park Jinsun may be on to something, but maybe not this year…

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Barak Obama – our new President! – has done more to bring marketing into the 21st century than most high-tech companies. His use of the Internet and social media is a terrific example for marketing professionals everywhere.

The Briefing Room - the official blog for the White House – displayed a post 1 minute after 12 noon (and actually about 3 minutes before the President spoke his oath of office) that told us Change has come to WhiteHouse.gov.

In it are outlined three new media priorities intended to “deepen online engagement”:

• Communication
• Transparency
• Participation

These priorities are described in terms of citizen relations, but every company can – and should – implement the same priorities for customer relations.

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Way back 30 years ago (in 1979),  Marshall McLuan created a tag line for Bell Systems (“Ma Bell”) and a commercial featuring it debuted on the Johnny Carson show. We were all told that we should use the telephone to “reach out and touch someone.”

Telemarketers, text messaging, and SKYPE have just about put an end to the personal telephone call.

In fact, according to two different surveys – one by Nielsen and one by the CDC – turned up about the same results. More than 20 million households, roughly 17-17.5%, have dropped their landlines and gone wireless only.

And between 9,000,000 and 12,000,000 users are regularly logged into SKYPE to make local, national, and international calls.

However, we do need to keep in mind:

Print is a highly effective communication medium, and it doesn’t march into your house uninvited, automatically replicate itself, or cover every square foot of your living room floor. Many consumers welcome a well-crafted direct mail piece, especially if there’s a sense of personal interaction associated with it. (From the Print Report, a joint publication of the USPS and the Printing Industries of America.)

The Australia Post has resurrected the idea, but given it an entirely new spin. While your direct mail may not give the recipient a hug, it certainly can “reach out and touch someone!“

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