Marketing and Advertising on the Net

“Every so often it makes sense to emerge from the trenches we dig for a living, and ascend to a 30,000-foot view, where we see, to our astonishment, an intricately interconnected whole.” This is the current giving life to TED.com. TED, an annual conference, stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. Aimed at “spreading ideas,” the conference provides a platform for lectures that cover a broad range of topics including science, politics, education, culture, business, global issues … — basically everything and anything interesting, current and meaningful. TED speakers are influential individuals from all walks of life, some well-known and some only known within their field. Past speakers have included Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Bill Gates, and Malcolm Gladwell. According to TED.com, the annual conference brings together “the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers,” and over four days, 50 speakers give an 18-minute “talk of their lives”.

Founded in 1984, the TED Conference has been “leveraging the power of ideas to change the world” every year since 1990. Currently, TED is owned by Chris Anderson (who also hosts) and his non-profit organization, The Sapling Foundation. The cost of attending the annual TED conference has changed throughout the years, but currently is only open to members who pay an annual membership fee of $6,000. Membership includes conference admission as well as club mailings, networking tools and conference DVDs. Attendance, which is said to sell out a year in advance, has been even more exciting since 2005 with the introduction of the TEDPrize, which awards $100,000 to grant three individuals’ “wish to change the world”. Recipients of this prize have included Boon, Bill Clinton, and James Nachtwey. Since 2006, however, TED has proven exclusivity is not their thing by making TEDTalks available directly on the TED web site, or through YouTube, and iTunes for free. Currently, about 370 TED talks are free to view online under a Creative Conference license that enables users to share and repost Talks throughout the web. As of January 2009, TED.com talks have been viewed over 90 million itms by more than 15 million people.

TED utilizes a free pricing strategy for users initially visiting the site to view videos as well as those who become TED.com members. Membership to TED.com is free after visitors provide their email, full name and country and the benefits include: joining the conversation about TEDTalks, themes and TED Blog posts with comments; a public profile to talk about your own work, save favorite Talks, and any expression worth sharing; contacting other TED.com members around the world; and optional TED newsletters.

Although TED.com is free, a paid membership is offered for $995 per year. A TED Associate Membership requires payment, a mailing address and other contact details as well as sufficient internet bandwidth and an up-to-date computer system. This membership has many additional benefits, including a live subscription-only webcast of the TED Conference, TED Book Club mailings (which include books, CDs, and DVDs) five times a year; a DVD set of the event, social-networking with other associate members, announcements about TED events, as well as all of benefits of a TED.com membership. This type of membership would be valuable to individuals who utilize TED talks for their own business or organizational benefits or those extremely invested in the organization or its mission.

Throughout the organization, TED integrates its overarching theme, interconnection, throughout the organization — from the conference and the prize, to membership and the web site. TED.com is very user-oriented, not only presenting free content with simple navigation, but allowing users to contribute to the web site through comments and feedback at well.

“Our Mission (and how you can help),” is one more section of the site that promotes interconnection, suggesting various ways to help spread the TED word. Again, TED.com puts the user center stage suggesting users to: share links through email, Digg, Twitter, Facebook and Del.icio.us; host a “TED session” at school or work around a specific topic or connect with friends and neighbors with a “TED salon,” planning discussion around each Talk or theme and encouraging an open conversation. For web users, TED.com strongly encourages the sharing of its content on blogs, sites, or social-networks. Throughout the site, TED presents links for users to improve the organization or site through feedback and suggestions.

In these ways TED makes the user part of the experience connecting them with the mission and hopefully providing motivation for users to become Associate Members. Even as a free user, TED is extremely generous – presenting all the content you need to expand your mind for 18 minutes.

Two Talks I recently enjoyed from TED.com

Do you know TED? What are your favorite talks?