Bitcoins are a virtual currency in which new coins are created by a slow, complex computer process known as “mining.” Once a person acquires a Bitcoin, he or she can trade it online to anyone who will accept it as payment for goods or services. Right now, a single Bitcoin is worth about [$130] in U.S. dollars, though that value fluctuates. There are [11.2] million Bitcoins now in existence, and once 22 million have been created, all mining will effectively cease. The currency isn’t regulated by any central bank.

But that doesn’t really tell you the benefits of bitcoin.

If we were at the local supermarket and you were going to buy a lottery ticket I could tell you that the odds are in your favour to bet using bitcoin. Bitcoin lotteries offer far higher payouts (BitMillions pays out 90% of bets placed) than state-run lotteries (the National Lottery pays out 50%).

Or maybe you are at the pharmacy section. Bitcoins allow you to spend substantially less on your medication; when the seller is based in a country where generic versions of the medicine are produced, the price is drastically cheaper. We Brits have few issues on this front, but other countries are not as fortunate in having a state health provider.

And unlike credit card transactions, where the business is charged 2-5% for processing a payment, there is no charge for bitcoin transactions, so both consumers and businesses benefit from using bitcoin.

But I digress – let us return to John.

John contacted me after investing £2,000 into the virtual currency with the bold claim that it was ‘capable of beating Apple’s market cap’. Our conversation ended with a big money shout: ‘If [the money held by US citizens in off-shore bank accounts] were held instead in bitcoin, each bitcoin would be worth $958,333 and I would be worth $100million+.’

John is not worth millions from his £2,000 investment, but he has made a cool £20,000 from it in a short 6 months. Since our conversation the price of a bitcoin has risen from around the £10 mark to a whopping £87. And that isn’t the half of it: at the beginning of April, the currency hit a peak of over £140 per bitcoin.

Looking through the lens of the Trust Barometer the growth of this currency is not surprising, quite the opposite: it is an obvious reaction. After a financial crash that saw recessions worldwide and a severe drop in global trust in the financial services and banking industries, why would the global population not seek out an alternative system to use?

Trust in bitcoins however is fundamentally misplaced. The currency’s volatility is its fallibility. It is not and cannot be what it wants to be: a trusted currency.

We should look at a ‘real world’ example.

While UK monetary policy is aimed at keeping inflation to 2% per annum, the Japanese government is desperately trying to increase inflation to that same figure. The Japanese economy has been stagnating over the last couple of decades because consumers & business have been holding back purchases as a result of negative inflation (deflation).

The same principle applies here.

I will not spend my bitcoins if I think that they will be more valuable tomorrow. Why buy a flat now if in a month my bitcoins will be worth tens of per cent more, making the cost of that flat significantly lower?

Of course if the currency were to stabilise, bitcoin investors (who make a substantial proportion of those holding bitcoins) would lose interest and precipitate a crash in value. Those using it as a currency would have little choice but to return to more predictable currencies to place their trust in.

And then we must consider government.

Bitcoins are wholly decentralised and (virtually) untraceable. If I am paid my monthly wage in an untraceable manner and am able to make all my purchases in a similar fashion, what is to stop me not paying due taxes? If bitcoins continue to grow and begin to pose a significant threat to tax revenue then we shall undoubtedly see some form of regulation, if not an outright government challenge.

This is more of a threat from the inside than the out.

Given Bitcoin’s foundations lie in libertarian principles – and its major backers, holders, sponsors and advocates are true libertarians – government regulation would likely precipitate a mass exodus of its key stakeholders. Without these figures guiding the bitcoin community, nor their investments, bitcoin would stagnate.

For all my doom and gloom over the long-term success of bitcoin, I do believe that it has the potential to make some astounding short-term profits. This alternative monetary system taps right into the heart of distrust in the financial sector and despite the hurdles involved bitcoin will surely grow for the foreseeable future.

Unlike John I am not brave enough to have a £2k punt on something as volatile as this – imagine having to explain that I lost £2,000 on an intangible gamble, I would qualify for a career change – but I have got my £300 down. And most importantly, I am up.

Writer:

Tom Hashemi, Research Executive, Edelman Tom Hashemi is a research executive on Edelman Berland’s London team.

A recent study has shown taht  only 50 Non-execs within the entire FTSE350 have substantive Marketing experience and that marketeers still often rely on hunches and experience to inform their insights and decisions. These two pieces are very much related as marketing, despite its importance, still struggles to compete against other ‘serious’ disciplines like finance, due to a lack of financial understanding and an inability to offer the board tangible, evidence based business analysis, decision-making and proof of impact.

This week on Edelman Editions Stephen Cheliotis, head of brand and creative meets with JT, UK managing director, Edelman Berland and Erica Buckley, senior manager of insights and strategy, Edelman Digital to talk about the role of marketing in the bigger business picture and the importance of measurement and insights. The discuss why marketeers need to base strategic and tactical recommendations on evidence and to undertake effective measurement to prove real cause and effect on brand equity and underlying business success.

If you’d like to talk to Edelman about any of the points discussed in the podcast above please contact edelmanuk@edelman.com

Why travel 6,000 miles to SXSW?

There are lots of web marketing and social media conferences in Europe. There are lots of developers’ garages, meet-ups, and creative sessions. And many are great.

But none that I’ve experienced is as complete or diverse as SXSW. Developers, new start-ups, creative minds, investors, and industry leaders all in one place, and accessible socially as well as during formal sessions.

But let’s not forget the most important thing: As an ex-pat American living in Europe, SXSW provides an opportunity to replenish stores of barbecue, Mexican food and sunshine diminished by the long, dark winter. All humans can benefit from such sustenance.

Fine. What did you learn?

(1) European entrepreneurialism is alive and well. It’s no secret that some of the most interesting digital innovations have come from Europe in recent years. At SXSW, Europe’s latest crop from the UK, Germany, and Amsterdam were on full display, and holding their own with the best offerings from Silicon Valley, New York, and the rest of the USA. Here were some of my favourites:

• We Are Pop Up, an innovative online / offline offering from London that does for vacant real estate what Airbnb* did for guest rooms. It facilitates short term rental of vacant commercial space for galleries, shops, or anything else.

• Berlin-based Komoot describes itself as “your personal guide for outdoor activies.” The platform mines open sources data and learns from user behavior to deliver fully planned, detailed itineraries for people looking for new places to explore.

• Fresh from Glasgow,Carhoots aims to be the TripAdvisor for car buyers, and uses an interesting integration of content from millions of Pinterest users to provide comments about almost any make and model.

(2) The future of science is uncertain. NASA made a huge impression, doubling down on its engagement with a SXSW audience full of enthusiasts raised on Star Wars and Star Trek. NASA has long understood the “No bucks, no Buck Rogers” truism, and getting SXSW attendees connected with NASA’s activities provides a new (and increasingly global) constituency that it surely hopes will support the space agency’s funding needs in Congress.

But the threat to science was illuminated most starkly by Nobel Laureate Dr. Stephen Weinberg, a key contributor to the development of the Standard Model of Physics, who pointed out that “Funding for science is no longer a priority,” and added later that “tools for discovery may be too expensive to continue making rapid progress” in scientific discovery. This has the potential to threaten technological progress and slow innovation.

(3) Our physical interactions with technology are about to transform, again. It wasn’t that long ago that our interface with technology was solely through a C: prompt via a keyboard. Then the mouse came along, and more recently, the touch screen. Now comes Leap Motion. Built on the same sort of technology that’s in the Kinect from XBOX*, Leap Motion provides user interface via nothing but gestures. The buzz around Leap Motion has been building for a while, but after playing with it at SXSW, I can report that the device delivers against the hype. I pre-ordered two, and was told that they will start shipping in the next two or three weeks.

(4) DIY has come to tech, and it could change the world. As components continue to become more accessible and consumer technology becomes more powerful, individuals are building their own tech solutions to hard questions, and they are inventing and innovating much faster than large companies or governments ever could. For example, Don’t Flush Me relies on an invention by Leif Percifield to track sewer levels in New York city, so that when storm sewers overflow, they might carry less raw sewage into local waterways. This invention and countless others are now collecting data that could have tremendous impacts on consumer behavior and government policy on critical issues.

(5) Cats and dogs rule. Grumpy Cat was by far the most popular visitor to SXSW, attracting a line far longer than former U.S. Vice President Al Gore. Human love for animals was mentioned as a key element of successful content strategy by both Matthew Inman of the Oatmeal and Jonah Peretti, Founder and CEO of Buzzfeed.

It all provides further proof that Catvertising really is the way of the future and that smiles are as important a part of SXSW as anything else. Yet another reason to get back next year. 363 days and counting.

*Airbnb and Microsoft XBOX are both Edelman clients.

Writer:

Marshall Manson, EMEA Managing Director, Edelman Digital Marshall is Managing Director of Digital for Edelman in EMEA, and a leader in the field of online strategy, communications and reputation management. Marshall is based in London, and previously was Vice-President of Digital Public Affairs in Washington, DC.

Unlike other ‘technology festivals’ such as CES and Mobile World Congress, SXSW has long been about the business of selling ideas rather than devices – the emotional benefits of technology rather than the functional. This year it seems there has been a shift, with more and more ‘product ‘ being at the heart of the innovation. The New York Times suggests that this shift is because the likes of Kickstarter, the crowdsourced start-up investment platform, have made is easier to get funding for product proto-types. Certainly the advent of  affordable 3D printing (this indexed very highly at SXSW this year) and low cost functional products like Berg’s Little Printer have made producing high quality media and components possible.

Each year there are multiple talking points to come out of the festival – not necessarily ground-breaking new advancements in tech, but quite often big brands/ agencies looking to use technology in a new way to drive some talkability or kudos amongst the early adopters.

Last year, controversy was caused by ad agency BBH Labs making mobile WiFi hotspots out of the local homeless people. Members of the public could identify their locations, approach them and hook up to their WiFi signal to use apps or download information – all for a small contribution to the host carrier.

This year, so far there doesn’t seem to be a stand-out moment, but here’s a round up of some of the more notable, or peculiar, things to have happened:

CUTEST ANIMAL: Cats have been all the rage of the internet over the last couple of years, and this SXSW was no exception. Behold Grumpy Cat, who took up residence in the Mashable Tent on the first day and managed to travel across the internet (again)as people had their picture taken with him. Grumpy Cat started life as an internet meme on the meme-incubator Reddit, so his appearacne at SXSW was something of a red carpet moment

BEST USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA:  Word from ‘South by’ veterans tells that the only way to get around the festival is by bike. Hence Razorfish’s deployment of a small fleet of Tweeting Bikes seems to have been a shrewd move. The bikes were left around the campus and were free to use. Using the hashtag #UseMeLeaveMe the bikes automatically tweeted their location to festival-goers who were then allowed to use the bikes to complete their onward journey before leaving it for someone else.

MOST RANDOM VENTURE CAPITALIST: In the same vein as stars like Will.I.am muscling in on the tech world, ex-NBA superstar Shaq O’Neal announced he would be patrolling SXSW looking for a cool idea to plough his money into. Ambitious ideas on basketball boots that tweeted when the ball was coming, a fuelband that vibrated to remind you to take your growth hormones and an app that generated random urban hip-hop names to name your kids were allegedly all turned down. In fairness to Shaq, he does have a good record of investments and his use of social media is exemplary: “The way I use it [Twitter] is 60 percent to make you laugh, 30 percent to inspire you, and 10 percent to sell product and promote myself.” ROLF.

BEST LONDON BOROUGH TO MAKE AN APPEARANCE: God Bless Hackney. Ever since Silicon Roundabout landed on its doorstep, it has had an ego boost. This year it took its experiential outfit, Hackney House (last seen during the Olympics), to Austin to promote its reputation as a creative hub. Hackney youths and ‘hoodies’ were decided not best representative of London so were left at customs.

ODDEST CONCEPT: This one goes to Doritos, who created the #BoldStage, a seeming attempt to cram as many zeitgeist ideas into one concept. It’s a huge vending machine, that acts as a stage showcasing cool urban musical acts, that also allows consumers to control the content, pyrotechnics and visuals via Twitter. But it doesn’t dispense massive bags of Doritos. #Fail?

Tip of the hat to the Guardian newspaper in the UK who, having identified that hipsters in London all live in Dalston, now decided that the hipsters at SXSW needed to feel the wrath of their irony. They created this Hot Phrase Generator to  coin the next big thing in phrasology. It’s actually quite good.

Finally - here is day two of SXSW in numbers -an infographic that shows the breakdown metrics of the festival. Any surprise that most mentioned food was ‘BBQ,  Beer, Tacos’?

Orginally posted on jcprsays.com

Podcast participants:

Writer: Paul McEntee, Associate Director, JCPR As a creative media publicist, Paul is adept at taking client briefs and creating talking points for them in the media. Paul’s speciality is dissecting a story and making it travel across broadcast, print, online and social media. Recent examples include launching Xbox Kinect to the world’s media with Leona Lewis and winning distinct share of voice for retail client Covent Garden during the busy Christmas period.

One of the biggest stories of this year’s congress was the announcement that 17 different operators had signed up to support Mozilla new smartphone operating system, Firefox OS. The OS, an open sourced web based platform is designed specifically for use in developing markets with the aim of simplifying and democratising smartphone ownership.

During the operator sessions, we heard some strong rhetoric from the likes of China Mobile, Telefonica, Vodafone and AT&T who all called for less tax and regulation in order to enable them to invest more in infrastructure and improved services for customers.

As is always the way at MWC, there were new smartphones and tablets, not to mention a new range of phones from Nokia one of which costs just €15. At the other end of the spectrum, we saw Huawei pushing the limits of mobile technology with the world’s fastest smartphone, the Huawei Ascend P2.

One growing trend on the device front that we saw in full force was the rise of the ‘phablet’ or smartphone – tablet hybrid.

Another important theme heard throughout the week was the role that mobile can play in connecting the next one billion people to the internet. However one of the challenges that needs to be overcome before this becomes a reality is the availability of affordable smartphones something that a number of companies, including Nokia have promised to address.

As is always the way, MWC this year was a hugely enjoyable event that offered a great deal of insight for all in attendance. I am already looking forward to MWC 2014!

Writer:

Phil Hakim, Senior Marketing Manager, Edelman Phil is responsible for Mobile Planning as part of the Edelman Digital Practice based in London. Phil provides strategic input on a our mobile activities across the business. His specialties include app lifecycle management, app marketing and overall company wide-mobile strategy. Prior to joining Edelman Phil worked at Accenture as part the Mobility Services Practice.

As part of our MWC feature on Edelman Editions, Phil Hakim, senior account manager, mobile meets with Renate Nyborg, director, mobile, at Mobile World Congress to talk about her highlights from the conference so far. Renate references the ebook “Lifestyle of Mobility” which is about the future of mobile and its important to our connected lives. She also talks about the Mobile World Festival, Barcelona which aims to highlight how mobility plays into culture, bringing mobile direct to the consumer.

Phillip Trippenbach, account director, digital and Phil Hakim, senior account manager, mobile reporting live on the ground from MWC 2013 in Barcelona talk about their initial impressions of the congress this year. Highlights include the emergence of the “fablet”, the shift from solely mobile phones to tablets and connected cities. The congress has now moved from discussing mobile as a technology to how mobile now enables us and assists with mobility.

As the congress unfolds Edelman will be reporting on content highlights, most influential twitter users and the key buzz words coming from Mobile World Congress this year.

Wednesday, 27th

Top 5 pieces of MWC related content that has been RT & shared

1.CNET – CNET discuss the news that Ubuntu is coming to phone and tablet: http://reviews.cnet.com/operating-systems/ubuntu-touch/4505-3671_7-35624752.html

2.CNET – Stephen Shankland writes Dropbox clears 1 billion file uploads per day:  http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13970_7-57571513-78/dropbox-clears-1-billion-file-uploads-per-day/

3.CNET – CNET discusses the news on an Android-powered device that plugs into any TV or monitor, giving access to local files from Dell: http://reviews.cnet.com/system-accessories/project-ophelia/4505-8896_7-35624727.html

4.Brand Republic – James Chandler looks back onto MWC day two with mentions on Firefox, Smart Watches, and Security: http://www.brandrepublic.com/news/1172756/

5. VIDEO- Brian Dolby interviews Vincent Brunet of Orange & Mikhail Gerchuk of VimpelCom at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBVAVDupVng

Top 5 influencers in the twitter conversation about MWC

1. @CNETNews 206,457 followers

2. @SoledadOnetto 1 million followers

3. @BrandRepublic 120,792 followers

4. @Wipro 106,132 followers

5. @Viber 141,738 followers

Keywords most frequently referenced in online conversation about MWC:

Monday, 25th & Tuesday, 26th

As day 2 of MWC drew to a close yesterday, we decided to take a look at, details of the broader conversation happening this year . Here’s how things looked between the start of MWC Monday and the end of the day yesterday:

Top 5 pieces of MWC related content that has been RT & shared

1. BBC News – Rory Cellan-Jones discusses the rise of Chinese handset manufacturer Huawei: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21572236#TWEET624581

2. CNET – Roger Cheng writes about an announcement that AT&T and General Motors will begin selling 4G LTE enabled cars in 2014:  http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13970_7-57570801-78/at-t-general-motors-to-sell-4g-lte-connected-cars-next-year/

3. Nokia Conversations Blog announces several Lumia apps devised to help delegates plan their visit to MWC: http://conversations.nokia.com/2013/02/22/conversations-hits-mwc-2013/

4. CNET – Roger Cheng finds out how MasterCard plans to transform mobile purchases with it’s new MasterPass service: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13970_7-57570783-78/how-mastercard-plans-to-transform-mobile-purchases/

5. CNET- Roger Cheng and Stephen Shankland learn that Samsung has “no interest” in Mozilla’s mobile OS, and plans to focus on Android and Tizen:  http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13970_7-57571111-78/samsung-no-interest-in-mozillas-firefox-os/

 Top 5 influencers in the twitter conversation about MWC

#1 @CNETNews 202,705 followers

#2 @BBCClick 2.1 million followers

#3 @ZDNet 104,565 followers

#4 @Telegraph 183,459 followers

#5 @mollywood 70,985 followers

Keywords most frequently referenced in online conversation about MWC:

This week on Edelman Editions, the Edelman Technology, Digital and Mobile teams will be reporting live from Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. In the video above, Renate Nyborg, director, Mobile; Phillip Trippenbach, account director, Digital; Phil Hakim, senior account manager, Mobile; and, George Leney, account manager, Technology talk about the wishes and expectations from Mobile World Congress this year.

Twitter Vine is a new free mobile app, currently only available on the iPhone and iPod touch, that lets you share six second looping videos. It has the sound switched off by default. Its brevity likened to the limited number of characters allowed on Twitter. The standalone app draws on Foursquare providing the ability to add locations to clips which are then posted to Twitter and/or Facebook. Twitter in fact acquired Vine in October 2012, before the start up had even launched its own app.

Why the big deal?

Because of the combined mobile, video, and mobile phone photography aspect, it’s a fresh medium of interaction as well as a new platform that captures and delivers videos. The ability to label a vine with specified hashtags means it’s searchable in a similar way to tweets.

The proliferation of mobile devices and increasing popularity of video-sharing sites such as YouTube and Vimeo are creating new opportunities in social mobile video. With (visual) content now a key part of marketing strategy, these trends highlight the need for marketers to create a video strategy that covers mobile, social media and new platforms such as this one.

A few sour grapes

Although Vine has been generally well received, it lacks some editing capabilities, is not yet available on Android and is limited to Facebook and Twitter. More recently, Vine was in the news because one of its most popular videos depicted material deemed inappropriate to a younger audience. As a result Vine has been restricted to those aged 17 and over.

A good harvest takes time

As with all things new, only time will tell whether there is a good business case for using Vine. eConsultancy recently posted examples of several retailers that have started using Vine. It concludes that many of them seem to be using it to showcase events, and product promotions. Whatever the reason behind using Vine, the fact that it is owned and driven by a company so synonymous with social media and that video has now become a pervasive part of digital marketing should give it a promising start.

Writer:

Alexia O’Sullivan, Associate Director, Edelman Alexia is Head of UK Analyst and Influencer Relations at Edelman. She joined the technology team in May 2009 and is responsible for driving client analyst and influencer programmes. Alexia has over fifteen years EMEA Marketing Communications experience working for large global technology companies across various industry sectors.