It's just semantics.
It’s been busy around here at Zeus Jones so this post may be a bit of a ramble…however, there’s a collection of things that are floating around that feel interconnected somehow. Perhaps this will spark something in someone:
Rob and I were having a debate about my last post. Specifically, with regard to the notion that brands aren’t simply collections of perceptions, rather they are collections of interactions. His point: “it’s semantics.” At some point we are talking about the same thing as interactions end up as perceptions. My thought on this is that semantics guide behavior and if we choose to think of brands as imaginary constructs we will act one way and we will act another if we think of brands as real, tangible things.
The notion of semantics or meaning is intertwined with my belief that adding services to products does more than simply enhance products, it changes their meaning. I was reminded of that by this release:
This is the Nikon Coolpix s51c with Flickr integration. Using wifi you are able to email, or upload pictures directly from the camera. I think this does more than simply create an enhanced digital camera, it creates an entirely new way to think about using a digital camera which in turn creates entirely new meaning around this device. I think we’ll hear more about this camera in the months to come…
Interestingly, this camera also adds something entirely new to Flickr. Whereas Flickr used to be an online archive, it now becomes more like a visual Twitter. The addition of live streams enhances Flickr’s utility. This leads me to my next theme which is that it is not just the addition of services to physical objects that create value, it also works the other way around.
I think this is very interesting. Apple is now selling iTunes albums, packed in real, physical boxes (with album art) that will require real, physical space on a shelf.
Apple is responding to our collective sense of loss at the digitization of music to return some part of the experience to a physical, tangible one. This comes at the expense of utility. In tying the iTunes card to one album, they are actually destroying the primary benefit – the ability to download songs and to pick and choose. However, in return, they are providing greater meaning.
As I wrote previously, physical emblems are ways to enhance value or meaning. My final observation is that just as analogue to digital interfaces are becoming more prevalent, so too are digital to analogue interfaces.
This is just one recent example:
An iPod projector. It takes a purely personal experience and makes it social, it translates an entirely digital experience into an analogue, physical one. In the process it brings new meaning.
All of these are examples that meaning isn’t simply a matter of semantics.