Wednesday, January 17, 2001

The Iconoshow

In the middle of a dreary day, Wednesday, January 17th, Michael Tchong and the Iconocast team hosted a lovely luncheon to announce two products at AZ. Guests enjoyed cocktails and networking before sitting down to a choice of Tuna or Duck - and the presentation, of course. I enjoyed chatting with my table-mates, MarketingSherpa.com's Aimee Kessler Evans, Frederick Doner (president of his own firm) and NYNMA's Ellen Auwarter. NYNMA consultant Sherry Reisner's table enjoyed some entertainment from Sony's RoboDog until Michael began the show. In a lovely and polished Powerpoint presentation, he outlined some facts showing that there really isn't anything to worry about.

>From 1996-2000, for instance, 7,355 companies received a total of $830 billion. Now in 2000, 210 companies closed. Hey - the very restaurant where we were has a one-in-five chance of closing! Not only that, but in 2000 there were 3 million jobs and only 41,515 that resulted in job cuts. So, life changes. Not everyone is going to win, and there will always be upstarts. As the credo of the Spanish Civil War states, "Better to die on your feet than live on your knees."

To help us navigate these uncharted waters, Iconocast introduced IconoMAP - the Streetwise map for the Internet. The presentation then took on a more consumer focus, leading up to Iconocast's launch of "Prosumer," the first email newsletter with 3D animation. (It's also available in plain, old HTML!) Powered by Revinia, this publication will be engaging readers in a dialog, as long as they want to continue responding. Now companies might be able to combat the Harvard University study that discovered that companies lose their customers every 5 years. Perhaps the 43 percent of respondents in a 1996 Reuters survey, who delayed their decisions significantly due to "analysis paralysis" or too much information, might feel empowered to decide now. In any case the newsletter will target the upscale market and highlight consumer trends.

The trendy lunch ended with a sumptuous chevre cheesecake that I gobbled up before chatting with ChannelSeven's Pamela Parker and IntregraMed's Ken Abbott. Guests finished their wine and slowly gathered coats and hats, and headed back out into the gray day - but with brighter spirits.