Meet the Author

Picture it:  June 29, 2007.

Steve Jobs, decked out in his patented mom jeans, released an innovative device that revolutionized the way we live and work by combining multiple things into one simple phone. Today, while Apple continues to improve on the iPhone and create new products like the Apple Watch, nothing has had the wow factor of that first device.

It’s not that hard to pull out a credit card versus using Apple Pay. Updates to the camera are so minute that it doesn’t matter. And, while the Apple Watch looks really sweet, it feels more like a grandiose want rather than a need. In short, it’s nothing that’s going to change the way I live and work like the iPhone Uno.

The living room has traditionally been the hub of entertainment for as long as anyone can remember. When Americans were promised “a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage” back in the 1920’s, a radio in every living room would have fit perfectly in the infamous campaign slogan. By the 1950s, television became the new standard. Families would gather round the set top and watch “I Love Lucy,” “Gunsmoke,” “The Ed Sullivan Show,” or “Father Knows Best,” at the same Bat Time on the same Bat Channel.

While this model thrived for decades, as time moved on our habits changed and technology evolved. What was once the big TV in the living room has started to become the elephant in the room. This is true for both millennials, who are often more engaged on their mobile device, and marketers, who aren’t sure how to change their strategies to match the status quo.

Most of the discussion about this development refers to mobile devices as the “2^nd Screen,” where viewers are using their laptops, smart phones or tablets while simultaneously watching broadcast TV. However, this designation does more to serve the needs of marketers and programmers than represent reality. While viewers are often engaged on their mobile devices while watching broadcast television, Googling facts or discussing shows over social, the 2^nd Screen is more and more becoming the first screen for millennials in terms of viewing content.

“Content is king” has gone from being a cliché of SEO to the status quo of the web. And if you’re curious as to when this development became official, check out the recently redesigned website for the Coca-Cola Company. Company websites are operating less like, well, company websites, and more like publishers. In turn, marketing teams are expected to act more like editorial bullpens. Unfortunately, modifying a skillset takes more than adding another line to your resume.

While Coke hired their own team of journalists, editors and content marketers to make their lofty ambitions come true, not every organization has the resources or desire for such a big investment. This leaves stalwart marketers to enter into the fray of blogging, video production, meme generating and tweeting, to figure things out as they go. An unfortunate side effect of this action is that the team begins to suffer from content fatigue.

When you first started your venture into content marketing, you had a plethora of ideas and the support of a vast network of team members. Now things have become touch and go. If you or any of your fellow content marketers have experienced one or more of the following symptoms, you may have content fatigue. Luckily, we have some suggested remedies.

For many of us at Nebo, it can be hard to leave our work at work. Intuitively, we apply the same human-centered approach we use for our clients to our everyday experiences. Realizing that it is futile to fight it, we’ve decided to embrace it. We’ve decided to look at everyday things and figure out ways that the user experience can be improved. This is a look at the user experience in real life, or as people online might put it, UX IRL. 

Our first subject: recipes.

First came Black Friday, the official start of the holiday shopping season. Then came Cyber Monday, where consumers finally started embracing online shopping, albeit through their employers high-speed Internet connections. And now, we have the prequel nobody asked for, Grey Thursday.

Many people are slamming retailers for opening their doors on one of the biggest holidays of the year, keeping their employees away from their families. But you also have to wag your finger at consumers who are taking the term “Door Busters” literally, pillaging store shelves in hopes of procuring the last Tickle Me Elmo Doll or FurReal Friends Cuddles My Giggly Monkey Pet (and no, I didn’t make that last one up, folks). There are fights, arrests, vandalism, hospitalizations and other tragedies that lead to a bloody start to the holidays.