ImaginativePRO Blog

HOW COMMODITY, AN ONLINE NO-FRILLS SCENT BOUTIQUE, IS USING 'SCENT TAILORING' TO RE-INVENT FRAGRANCE MARKETING

COMMODITY, AN ONLINE SCENT BOUTIQUE, IS AIMING TO CHANGE THE INDUSTRY BY MAKING IT EASIER TO DISCOVER A GREAT NEW FRAGRANCE.

The fragrance industry--a realm of cheesy commercials and tenuous celeb endorsements--has been fairly untouched by the Internet age, unless you count the flourishing knockoff economy. Yo Santosa, the creative director of the L.A. agency Ferroconcrete and co-founder of new online scent company Commodity, says.

“The biggest challenge is that you can’t smell what you see online.  Currently the fragrance market is saturated with shirtless male models and lofty slogans. We wanted to create something modern that felt accessible even if you’re not into fragrances.”

Click Image To View Video

Last year, a Ferroconcrete art director named Owen Gee came to Santosa with an idea for an online service that would allow customers to test scents in their own homes.  Santosa, who had branched into starting companies with the haute cookie site Fruute.com last year, saw the market gap.  The group explains on Kickstarter. 

“Right now, finding a great fragrance is a complex process.  The choices are overwhelming and the in-store experience is confusing. The problem is, after sampling a few fragrances our nose gets tired and can no longer distinguish what we’re smelling, it’s a guessing game.”

Commodity's KickStarter crowdfunding page (Click Image To Enlarge)

Gee and Santosa call their company Commodity, and the service it provides “scent tailoring.” On the homepage, you choose from 20 original scents, unpretentiously named things like “cloth” and “gin.”  Then Commodity sends you a pack of 5-day tryout kits, which let you discover how a scent will change over time as it interacts with your body chemistry. A $50 price tag for a 30ml bottle (which ships for free) comes thanks to the company’s streamlined structure, which spends a fraction of what a big brand would on advertising.

Users choose from a palette of 20 unpretentious scents, 10 for men and 10 for women (Click Image To Enlarge

They’re named things like 'Book.'

And 'Gin.' (Click Image To Enlarge)

Santosa tells Co.Design. 

“We also put a lot of thought and detail into every aspect of the packaging.  For example, we wanted something that is sequential for the tailoring kit. This way it’s clear that each scent should be discovered one day at a time. So the packaging comes with perforation in sets of 5 or 10, with numbers on them.”

The company calls its service 'scent tailoring.' (Click Image To Enlarge

On the homepage, you choose several scents to try out (Click Image To Enlarge)

 Then Commodity sends you a pack of 3-day tryout kits, which let you discover how a scent will change over time as it interacts with your body chemistry (Click Image To Enlarge)

The glass viles slip easily into a small leather sheath, which has thedimensions and weight of a nice pen.

Santosa sees Fruute and Commodity as field tests for future ventures, a business model pioneered by product designers like Yves Béhar that’s quickly spreading through other creative industries.  She adds. 

“We’ve learned a lot, seeing both sides (the client’s point of view as well as ours).  I’ve always encouraged our team at Ferroconcrete to pitch their ideas if they have a great concept for a company.”

A $50 price tag for a 30ml bottle (which ships for free) comes thanks to the company’s streamlined structure (Click Image To Enlarge)

You can also buy a smaller 'roller ball' version of the fragrances (Click Image To Enlarge)

Which comes in a leather case (Click Image To Enlarge)

COMMENTARY:    I like Commodity's idea of a no-frills, online fragrance boutique, that markets mens and womens fragrances that react with your body's chemistry, a marketing technique that they call "scent tailoring."    This method of marketing fragrances is another great example of the "low-overhead, high quality products" business model that relies on eliminating the middleman and keeping product marketing costs very low or eliminating them entirely.   This business model reduces capital investment and business risk by outsourcing R&D, production, marketing and distribution of the product.  Commodity essentially becomes a marketing organization with very few employees.    It does make the job of developing the company's brand image much slower, since it relies on public relations and word-of-mouth, and getting the word out by bloggers like yours truly.  For non-shoppers like me this is a God send since there is no added pressure of going to a shopping model, having to sniff through dozens of different fragrances, and worrying about which fragrance to select and how much to spend. Commodity eliminates all of that drama, and making shopping for fragrances very simple.

Courtesy of an article dated March 13, 2013 appearing in Fast Company Design

HOW THE FOUNDERS OF HARRY'S WANT TO REPEAT THE SUCCESS OF ONLINE EYEWEAR RETAILER WARBY PARKER, BUT IN SHAVING RAZORS

Jeff Raider and Andrew Katz-Mayfield, the co-founders of a new startup called Harry’s (Click Image To Enlarge)

BY GOING ONLINE TO ELIMINATE THE MIDDLEMEN, WARBY PARKER CHANGED THE EYEWEAR INDUSTRY. NOW, ONE OF ITS CO-FOUNDERS HOPES TO DO THE SAME FOR RAZORS.

When Andrew Katz-Mayfield recently found himself spending 20 confusing minutes and $20 in the razor aisle at his local drugstore, he started thinking about how to remove the frustration (and the big spend) from the experience. Katz-Mayfield also happens to be a childhood friend of Jeff Raider, a co-founder of the online eyeglasses retailer Warby Parker who took a similar approach to simplifying the process of trying and buying glasses.

On the Harry’s website, customers can spend $15 for the Truman kit, which includes the Truman handle, three blades, and a tube of cream (Click Image To Enlarge)

Or, they can spend $25 for the Winston, a slightly more luxe version of the razor (Click Image To Enlarge)

And now, 18 months and a great wooly mammoth logo later, we have Harry’s, a startup hoping to add a dose of charity and value to the shave industry. The company worked with an 80-year-old razor manufacturer in Germany and a stateside industrial designer to develop a handle, which is inspired by antique pens and butter knives. Online, customers can spend $15 for the Truman kit, which includes the Truman handle, three blades, and a tube of cream developed with a local cosmetics studio, or $25 for the Winston, a slightly more luxe version of the razor. Replacement blades go for $2, and a single razor can be had for as little as $10.

Harry’s blades are made by a 90-year-old company in Germany (Click Image To Enlarge)

Their technique produces blades that are incredibly hard and sharp--and rare to come by, in the US (Click Image To Enlarge)

Similarly to Warby Parker, there’s a social responsibility angle, too--for every razor you buy, Harry’s will donate one to an organization that helps people “look good and feel good.” Right now, it’s a nonprofit that helps soldiers reintegrate to life outside of a warzone.

A worker at the plant in Germany (Click Image To Enlarge)

A stateside industrial designer developed the Harry’s handle, which is inspired by antique pens and butter knives (Click Image To Enlarge)

Will the online-only, high-value business model translate to a lower margin product, like razors? Warby’s approach was so successful because it broke a long-standing monopoly with an innovative service model--in other words, it was a pain in the ass (and wallet) to buy glasses, and Warby offered a way to sidestep both the inconvenience and the cost by selling direct to consumers.

The product design aims to hit a sweet spot between great design and affordability (Click Image To Enlarge)

The head is replaceable, while the handle is designed to last (Click Image To Enlarge)

Harry’s faces more of a hurdle when it comes to the market for shaving tools, of which there are plenty of affordable options at every drugstore in town. They’re also not the first to take razors online--you may have heard of Dollar Shave Club, a site that made a viral splash last year. says Katz-Mayfield says.

“They had a really funny video and it struck a chord.  But they’re a retailer, and we actually design and manufacture our own products.”

The razors are nicer than the drug store brand, but not hugely expensive (Click Image To Enlarge)

Replacement blades go for $2, and a single razor can be had for as little as $10 (Click Image To Enlarge)

The profit margins on razorblades certainly aren’t as high as eyeglasses, but Raider and Katz believe there’s room for innovation, mainly in terms of the brand experience. Gillette might be as cheap, and Dollar Shave Club might be as convenient, but neither boast the design quality or social responsibility angle. And eventually Harry’s may take the brand offline and into barber shops and pharmacies. Katz-Mayfield says. 

“We’re not trying to build a website.  We’re trying to build a brand that will be distributed in lots of different ways over time.”

Harry’s also developed its own cream, with help from a local cosmetics company (Click Image To Enlarge)

COMMENTARY:   I like Harry's business model very much because razor blades are replenishable items, and unlike Warby Parker, don't require eye exams and lens prescriptions, and this means a quicker sales cycle and lots of repeat sales. If Netflix can do it with movies-by-mail, RedBox with movie kiosks, and Warby Parker with eyewear, why not Harry's in replacement razor blades.  Gillette the global leader in replacement razor blades has a commanding 80% market share, so there is plenty of room for industry disruption, but I think they will need to provide overnight service to keep up with the demand for instant gratification that razor blades command.  This is never going to be a volume busines, but their uniqueness and quality German made razor blades provides just enough differentiation that some customers who want high quality at an affordable price are will to part with their money. 

Courtesy of an article dated March 20, 2013 appearing in Fast Company Design 

W MOTORS $3.4 MILLION LYKAN HYPERSPORT IS THE FIRST SUPERCAR PROUCED IN ARABIA WITH DIAMOND-ENCRUSTED LED LIGHTS

An automotive masterpiece designed to change our perception of perfection, here’s the outrageous ‘ultra-luxury hypercar’ Lykan Hypersport 2013 from Beirut-based W Motors, the first Arab coach-builder of high performance luxury sports cars based in the Middle East, which will make its impressive sales debut at the Qatar Auto Show starting January 29th in Doha.

W Motors' Lykan Hypersport was unveiled at the Qatar Motor Show in January 28, 2013 (Click Image To Enlarge)

Click Image To View YouTube Video

Labeled as the most exclusive, luxurious and technologically advanced Hypercar in the world that boasts never-seen-before cutting-edge technologies inside and out, the Arab’s first sports car Lykan Hypersport 2013 is limited to just 7 cars, and is aimed for the ultra-elite clientele of the Middle East, Far East, Africa and Eastern European markets.  

Click Images To Enlarge

The Lykan Hypersports can accelerate from 0 to 100 kph in just 2.8 seconds and reaches a maximum speed of 390 kph with the help of its mid-rear positioned 750 horsepower engine, notably comes equipped with diamond-encrusted LED lights, gold-plated hood, and gold-stitched interior leather, which will guarantee that the passengers travel in style.

Click Images To Enlarge

Notably, the proud owners of this $3.4 million Lykan that comes with 24-hour concierge service will also be awarded with a Special Edition Cyrus Klepcys Watch, worth over $200,000 and limited to just 7 units.

 

Designed, developed and built by the legends of the automotive industry, including the Magna Steyr Italia, RUF Automobile, Studiotorino, Viotti, ID4MOTION in a time period of 6-years, the Lykan Hypersport 2013 is actually the brainchild of Beirut-born car designer Ralph Debbas, who is the lead investor, chairman and CEO of W Motors, and has track record of designing several concepts for such luxury automakers like Land Rover and Aston Martin, before starting W Motors in 2006.

Click Images To Enlarge

The other technical headlights of this wild, angular machine includes a reverse door opening system, a state-of-the-art 3D Virtual Holographic Display with Tactile Interaction, an innovative ID4Motion Interactive Dashboard.

Click Images To Enlarge

Besides, we have also earlier seen some of the other supercars like the Rimac Concept One electric, the ultimate supercar McLaren P1, the $370,000 Slovenian supercar Tushek Renovatio T500, the 2013 Arrinera Supercar which is described as the new batmobile, the Lamborghini Reventón, the Gray Design's Zeus Twelve machines, the Faralli & Mazzanti's Evantra supercar which is limited to just 5 examples, the Pagani's Huayra 'God of Wind’ supercar, and the Hennessey Performance's $1.25-million Venom GT2 hypercar which produces whopping 1500 horsepower.

 Lykan Hypersport dashboard includes a holographic display with interactive motion gesture ignition (Click Image To Enlarge)

Lykan Hypersport 3D Virtual Holographic Display with Tactile Interaction, innovative ID4Motion Interactive Dashboard (Click Image To Enlarge)

COMMENTARY:   The advanced technology incorporated into the Lykan Hypersport supercar like the 3D Virtual Holographic Display with Tactile Interaction and innovative ID4Motion Interactive Dashboard and the other luxury imbellishments, especially the diamonds and rubies in the LED lighting could be worth the $3.4 million price tag.   The fact that only 7 of these cars will be produced for delivery in September 2014 establishes the Lykan Hypersport as one of the rarest supercars of its pedigree on the market today.  

W Motors guarantees that the Lykan Hypersport can generate 750 horsepower and claims that their supercar can go at a top speed of 395 KM or 245 MPH and clock 0 to 100 KP/H in 2.8 seconds (62 MPH in 2.8 seconds) is pretty darn impressive. That's in the same league as the new Ferrari LaFerrari ($1 million) and Bugatti Veyron ($2.4 million), two cars that really impress yours truly, but I could never afford.     

I don't have the complete technical specifications or was able to view a video of a test drive of a production Lykan Hypersport, so it's hard to really get too excited about one of the most expensive cars in the world.  Rumors that up to 100 very rich individuals from the Middle East have expressed an interest in buying a Lykan Hypersport is impressive, but they are just rumors. Money speaks louder than words.  

Courtesy of an article dated January 24, 2013 appearing in BornRich.com 

LULULEMON RECALLS $20 MILLION OF SEE-THROUGH YOGA PANTS, BUT IN SPITE OF THE RECALL SCANDAL CUSTOMERS STILL REMAIN LOYAL

Lululemon Athletica Inc.’s problem isn’t just that a batch of its black yoga pants were made too sheer and had to be recalled – the popular retailer is now downgrading its financial predictions and watching its stock do a downward dog.

Inside a Lululemon store (Click Image To Enlarge)

The Vancouver, B.C., company said late Monday that it pulled the women’s pants from its stores and e-commerce sites over the weekend after learning that the material was too revealing. The Luon fabric is produced in Vietnam and Taiwan and made with a mix of nylon and Lycra spandex fibers.

 

In a lengthy FAQ posted on its website, the chain said it was still investigating how a batch of too-skimpy pants was allowed to reach stores in early March. Lululemon hasn’t changed its manufacturers or ingredient quality since 2004, it said.

Celebrities wearing Lululemon yoga pants provide a lot of PR for the company (Click Image To Enlarge)

Or, in the company’s words: 

“The ingredients, weight and longevity qualities of the women’s black Luon bottoms remain the same but the coverage does not, resulting in a level of sheerness in some of our women’s black Luon bottoms that fall short of our very high standards.”

Lululemon is now offering affected customers full refunds or exchanges while also warning of an impending shortage of black yoga pants. The recalled apparel makes up 17% of the women’s pants and crop pants Lululemon sells in stores.

Classic black Lululemon yoga pants (Click Image To Enlarge)

But it’s more than practitioners' poses being affected – Lululemon said the “issue will have a significant impact” on its financials.

The company lowered its expectations for an 11% increase in same-store sales and revenue between $350 million and $355 million for its first fiscal quarter. Now, Lululemon is projecting a 5% to 8% same-store sales range and revenue between $333 million and $343 million.  

The company will unveil its fourth quarter and full-year earnings on Thursday. But already, analyst Sam Poser of Sterne, Agee & Leach downgraded Lululemon’s shares to a neutral rating from buy, telling investors to back off until quality-control concerns are alleviated.

Lululemon's problem are $20 million worth of black see-through see-through yoga pants like these (Click Image To Enlarge)

Lululemon had been riding a recent surge in demand for women’s athletic wear, along with competitors such as Gap Inc.’s Athleta, Under Armour Inc. and even mass-market retailers such as Forever 21 and Victoria’s Secret.

In early morning trading, Lululemon stock fell as much as 5.9%; as of 9:15 PDT, it was down $3.60, or 5.5%, to $62.30.

COMMENTARY:   Could Lululemon spark a new fashion trend:  See-through black yoga pants? I have a feeling that we will be seeing a few of these see-through yoga pants somewhere, some place. The ladies look sexy in them, they know it too, and why not show off the goods underneath?  It's probably a bad business for Lululemon judging from the recall, but I will be looking out for the see-throughs with apprehension.  LOL 

Lululemon Sales Strategy: Scarcity and Eavesdropping

 In a series of interviews, Lululemon's executives explained the chain's strategy for stoking demand for Wunder Under pants, Scuba hoodies and racerback tanks. Unlike most retailers, Lululemon doesn't use software to gather customer data, doesn't build lots of new stores, doesn't offer generous discounts and purposely stocks less inventory than it can keep on its shelves.

 

Instead, the Vancouver company stays in close contact with its customers and cultivates a sense of scarcity, and during a time when most retailers have used discounting to drive sales, it uses pricing power to its advantage to keep items flying off the shelves.

The moves are largely the idea of Chief Executive Christine Day, who took the top job in June 2008, and so far they have paid off.

The Lululemon See-Through Yoga Pants Scandal Continues

After customers complained that a batch of the company's signature yoga pants were too transparent, Lululemon tried to make a scapegoat out of the Taiwanese company that manufactures the pants. Bad idea. Said supplier now says the pants were no different than any other batch. The Eclat Textile Company, whose clients include everyone from Gap to Under Armour, said Tuesday that Lululemon had signed off on the shipment, suggesting that Lululemon made the whole thing up.  Eclat's chief executive Roger Lo told The Wall Street Journal. 

"All shipments to Lululemon went through a certification process which Lululemon had approved.  All the pants were manufactured according to the requirements set out in the contract with Lululemon."

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a yoga pants scandal on our hands. 

So which one is it? Did Eclat make a bad batch of $100 yoga pants, or did Lululemon just design transparent $100 yoga pants and milk the market for as long as it could? It's really hard to say. When Lo talked to the press, he said that Lululemon hadn't contacted his company about the recall — which is kind of weird since Lululemon effectively blamed Eclat for screwing up the "level of sheerness" during the manufacturing process. (It's worth pointing out that Lululemon also said it was working closely with the manufacturer "to understand what happened during the period this fabric was made.") It's possible that there's a third party, some company that supplied Eclat with the fabric for the pants, clearing it somewhat from the blame. But at this point, this particular incident really is a frustrating finger-pointing match that's left Lululemon out about $20 million in lost sales and a whole lot yogis out of high-priced pants.

Let's get real about this stretchy trousers tale, though. It's pretty obvious that the supplier gains nothing by saddling the blame, however the perhaps unexpected media circus that gathered around this see-through yoga pants scandal highlighted a number of questionable incidents in recent Lululemon history. As a Credit Suisse analyst pointed out in a note to clients that this is Lululemon's "fourth quality control issue in the last year." Not counting this latest debacle, two out of the other three issues involved the sheerness of its fabrics. Clearly, something is up.

Along these lines, other analysts suggested that Lululemon needs to spend more time in Taiwan to make sure the manufacturers' work is up to snuff. No matter whose at fault in the growing list Lululemon's quality control issues, it can't hurt to get to the root of the problem. Then maybe next time, someone will spot the bad batch, before they ship $20 million worth of transparent yoga pants around the world.

Lululemon Does Not Inform Customers Using Social Media

I checked Lululemon's Facebook and Twitter accounts to see if there was any mention of the see-through yoga pants recall, and was very surprised that there was not a single newsfeed post about the recall or how customers were to be compensated for returning any yoga pants covered under the recall.   I am not saying that Lululemon is negligent in not posting something about the recall, but it appears to me that they are treating the whole affair as if it never happened.

The Financial Impact Of The Recall 

$20 million worth of recalled yoga pants is not a huge amount, considering that it only represents 1.42% of Lululemon's gross revenues ($1.4 billion just reported today) for the fiscal year ending January 31, 2013. However, it's still a public relations disaster, because the company charges premium prices for its yoga pants, and customers expect much better quality and better manufacturing controls to prevent this sort of thing from happening.  

The financial fallout of that $20 million yoga pants recall will be felt on Lululemon's bottomline.   Lululemon generated estimated net income of $237 million in the fiscal year ending January 31, 2013, so the amount represents 8.4% of net income, and that is very material.  No wonder the company's stock declined by 5% on the day that the recall was announced.  

Courtesy of an article dated March 19, 2013 appearing in the Los Angeles Times, an article dated March 19, 2013 appearing in The Atlantic Wire and an article dated March 21, 2013 appearing in Fort Mill Times and an article dated March 22, 2012 appearing in The Wall Street Journal

FACEBOOK TO ADOPT #HASHTAGS, BUT WHAT WILL THIS MEAN FOR BRANDS AND USERS?

Facebook CEO and co-founder wears a #H T-shirt to significy his support for HASHTAGS like those used by Twitter (Click Image To Enlarge)

On March 14, 2013, The Wall Street Journal broke the news that Facebook is working on incorporating the hashtag, one of Twitter's most iconic markers, into its service by using the "#" symbol as a way to group conversations,

  said people familiar with the matter. It is unclear how far along Facebook's work on the hashtag is and the feature isn't likely to be introduced imminently, these people said.

On short-messaging service Twitter, the hashtag—a word or phrase preceded by the "#" pound symbol—is a way for people to collate many Twitter messages about a single news event or topic, like the selection of the Pope (#PopeFrancis). The hashtag is closely associated with Twitter, and fans of the service use the hashtag as short-form creative expression.

Facebook is testing whether to follow Twitter's lead and allow users to click on a hashtag to pull up all posts about similar topics or events so it can quickly index conversations around trending topics and build those conversations up, giving users more reason to stay logged in and see more ads. Instagram, which Facebook acquired last year, already uses hashtags, allowing users to sort photos by the symbol.

Facebook's work on a hashtag is a sign of the heightening battle between Facebook and Twitter, as both compete for mobile users and fight for advertising dollars. For years, Twitter and Facebook seemed to occupy different poles of the social-media spectrum. While Facebook was the home of close friends and family, Twitter was the real-time broadcasting device for the rest of the world.

Facebook has now increasingly moved onto Twitter's turf. The Menlo Park, Calif., social network is prodding users to share more content with the public. In recent years it has mirrored some of Twitter's features by creating "subscriber" lists for users, and allowing people to tag celebrities and brands with the "@" sign.

And while closely held Twitter is a fraction of Facebook's size, it is competing with Facebook for mobile and online advertisers, especially as some advertisers flock to Twitter to advertise against real-time moments. Twitter has bulked up its sales staff and released more advertiser-friendly products. Last month, Twitter opened its ads platform to third-party partners so that advertisers do not have to directly buy ads from Twitter.

Debbie Williamson, an analyst for eMarketer said. 

"Historically, Facebook has come first for advertisers and Twitter has been a nice add-on.  Twitter has been more aggressive."

Twitter is expected to make about half a billion dollars in advertising revenue this year, according to eMarketer. Facebook generated $4.3 billion last year from advertising.

The gap is narrower in mobile advertising, where Twitter is expected to make $249 million this year, versus Facebook's $851 million, according to eMarketer.

Twitter users came up with the hashtag more than five years ago as a way for people to collect tweets on a favorite topic, like a news event or interest groups. Hashtags also have morphed into shorthands for cultural memes, helping to catapult Twitter into the public eye. For example, commentary about actor Charlie Sheen's 2011 publicity campaign against his bosses from the television series "Two and Half Men" was commonly appended with the hashtag "#winning."

The hashtag also plays a key role in Twitter's moneymaking efforts. The San Francisco startup encourages companies like Coca-Cola and General Electric to invent hashtags as a secondary brand for their marketing messages both on Twitter and in other types of marketing.

Twitter last month said half of the 52 national TV commercials that aired during the Super Bowl included a hashtag in the ad. For example, Paramount Farms Inc.'s Wonderful Pistachios brand created the hashtag #CrackinStyle and flashed it on screen during its Super Bowl ad featuring Psy, the singer behind the "Gangnam Style" viral online video.

Hashtag Facebook

When Facebook introduces the hashtag, it will transform the way people use the platform and, importantly for marketers, the way users engage with brands. The implications of this change have yet to be deeply explored by social media markers. It remains to be seen how open the hashtag network will be, but a Facebook with hashtags could have major implications for how brand marketers work with Facebook.

Brand mentions

Previously, brands were only alerted to mentions of their brand name either via users commenting on brand pages or tagging brands in status updates (only users with public settings). Now, conceivably, brands will be constantly tagged in millions of conversations via Facebook, meaning not only will brand marketers have access to many times the volume of data currently available to do with what they want, they will also be able to encourage more real time conversation, and influence millions more conversations on social media.

Traditional vs. social marketing becomes more blurred 

As Adweek notes, traditional media campaigns have ramped up efforts to encourage users to engage via hashtags on Twitter; now brand marketers will be able to encourage conversations on Facebook, introducing the hashtag to millions more users. Twitter is typically much less popular than Facebook, with approximately 400 million Twitter users versus an estimated 1 billion on Facebook.

Why now? 

Zuckerberg may have fallen in love with hashtags after the famous $1 billion buy out of Instagram in 2012, and as many of you would see in your feed, any friend sending Instagram content to Facebook usually carries a litany of useless hashtags on their update, links currently not clickable. However, many questions remain, as Facebook still has yet to officially confirm the move to hashtags, let alone how the new Facebook ecosystem will work.

What will Facebook hashtags mean for person-to-brand interaction?

Firstly, will brands be able to reply to users in the new Facebook hashtag stream? (Along with other users, as is the case with Twitter.) If the answer is yes, this will create a lot of extra work for those working with and on behalf of brands on Facebook.

Secondly, what does this mean for brand pages on Facebook: will the brand page fall in prominence, and if so, will that leave brands who have invested millions of dollars to build massive communities on Facebook worse off?

Alternatively, will brands on Facebook be able to have more user-brand conversations in real time? What implications could this have with brand marketers providing customer service via social media?

How do hashtags tie into the wider Facebook strategy? 

It will be also interesting to see how Facebook's layout and newsfeed changes, along with Graph Search, all tie into the new, more open and flexible Facebook and what Mark Zuckerberg's strategy will be to sell more advertising. Will Facebook introduce 'sponsored hashtags' and trends, and move in on Twitter's lucrative 'native' ad products?

How will hashtags change user behaviour? 

Also worth keeping an eye on is how these changes might discourage users away from the world's largest social network and toward other platforms. Will the introduction of hasthtags render Twitter irrelevant?

There is no doubt about it: Zuckerberg is making another big gamble with his NASDAQ-listed internet giant. The network's most interesting days are clearly still ahead.

COMMENTARY:   I am a Twitter user and I use the # hashtag symbol regularly so that my followers and non-followers alike can find my Twitter updates when they conduct searches on Twitter.  This is a huge advantage if you are trying to narrow your search to a specific keyword as Google does in their searches.  The hashtag will prove to be a convenient way for Facebook users to do the same thing that Twitter users now take for granted.  

Conversations collect around hashtags. If you want to start a conversation, introduce a hashtag. If you want to join a conversation already happening on Facebook, find the hashtag that's being used. Hashtags are commonly used at conferences, for television shows, and in discussion of major news events.  Preparing newsfeed updates with the right hashtag is a great way to send your message not just to your Facebook fans, but to everyone who is tuned into that conversation.  Hashtags are most powerful when you use them judiciously. On Twitter, including more than two in a tweet is probably overkill.  It is hoped that Facebook users will apply a similar rule, and only tag the most important word that represents the theme of your update.

Brands will benefit as well, because they can hashtags to determine what their follower and non-followers are saying about their brand. The hashtag will be important for brands in targeting potential customers and improving engagement with their fans.  

4 tips for choosing a successful hashtag.

#1: Choose Something Unique - If you want others to join in on the conversation and be able to engage with each other, you have to use a hashtag that is more unique—not something as simple as #marketing or #webinar.  If you are looking for Facebook posts about the San Francisco 49er football team, don't use something like #NFL or #SuperBowl, but make it specific and unique like #SF49ers or #49ers.  

In this particular case, I could've searched for Hitachi's Ropits single-person electric urban vehicle, using the hashtag #Hitachi, but my Twitter search would've included all tweets using "Hitachi."   By using the hashtag #Ropits, I narrow my search so that is specific and unique. Here are the results.

Twitter search for the HASHTAG #Ropits, Hitachi's single-person electric urban vehicle (Click Image To Enlarge)

#2: Choose Something Easy to Remember - When choosing a hashtag, it’s important to make sure that your hashtag is easy for users to remember. Hashtags should be short, easy to pronounce and spell and give users a better idea about the topic of the conversation or newsfeed stream. With thousands of hashtags roaming the social media universe, the last thing a business wants to do is create a hashtag that is hard to spell or pronounce. Users will end up spelling it wrong and this defeats the purpose of having a hashtag in the first place.  For example, if you want to see what Facebook users are saying about the TV Show "Dancing With The Stars,"  you could enter #DancingWithTheStars, and find those updates, but it could make more sense to use an abbreviation like #DWTS.  

Here's a great example of choosing a hashtag that is easy to remember.  In this particular case on Twitter we searched for Tweets about Pope Francis.  I could've entered the hashtag #PopeFrancis, but decided to use #Pope instead, because this is what people are using the most. It's short and simple to remember.

 Using the HASHTAG #Pope to find Tweets about Pope Francis (Click Image To Enlarge)

#3: Use the Hashtag on Multiple Social Media Channels - As you work toward making your hashtag second nature for many users, try to adopt it on multiple channels.  Although the use of hashtags may have started on Twitter, they are now used across multiple social media channels including Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and Pinterest. Hashtags allow users to organize their content and pictures while also instilling the hashtag into the minds of their audience.   Using hashtags on multiple social media channels also helps you in two ways. First, this gives your hashtag more exposure to more people to help spread the word about it. Second, this helps people to remember your hashtag when they see it multiple times on different channels

#4: Search for the Hashtag Before You Use It - The worst thing that can happen when using a hashtag is to realize after it’s tweeted that the same hashtag is used for an entirely different topic. Before using a hashtag, you always need to search to see if other people are using it and what they are saying.

When you use hashtags in your social media strategy, the key is to make sure you’re using the right hashtags at the right time to ensure you are reaching your audience in a positive way.

By following these 4 steps, you’ll be able to choose a hashtag that’s memorable and unique. But the most important step of all is to see what other people are saying on that hashtag or topic in advance.

Remember that it’s okay to use general hashtags such as #marketing or #webinars, but it’s harder to make those effective when trying to have a unique conversation.

Use multiple hashtags if the topic is right, but do not add extra hashtags in an attempt to show up in as may searches as possible.

With over 1 billion users, Facebook could become the leader in hashtag online usage, it will help brands in their Facebook marketing, and I welcome the move.    

Courtesy of an article dated March 14, 2013 appearing in The Wall Street Journal and an article dated March 20, 2014 appearing in Social Media Today and an article dated February 21, 2013 appearing in Social Media Examiner

GUY KAWASAKI, AUTHOR OF 'APE: HOW TO PUBLISH A BOOK," DECIDES TO SELF-PUBLISH, PART OF eBOOK PUBLISHING TREND

Why would an established author with NY TimesBestseller credibility jump a prestigious publisher ship and self-publish ebooks instead? It's not what you probably think, at least not according to  Guy Kawasaki, one of two authors I know of who jumped from brand-name to self publishing. 

Guy Kawasaki, author of 'APE How To Publish A Book' (Click Image To Enlarge)

Guy Kawasaki's latest book is both self published and all about self published: Called APE (for Author-Publisher-Entrepreneur), the book is all about how to develop, publish, and market your own ebooks. For anybody interested in writing an ebook, it's a step-by-step guide: full of real advice, practical, easy to follow and use. I recommend it often. It's already helped me with some of my projects. 

Kawasaki told me earlier this week.

"It's not just the trend toward ebooks."  

True, Amazon recently announced that ebooks sell better than printed books on its sites; however, ebooks are growing but still barely a fifth of the total market, according to Publishers' Weekly. And Guy himself says only a tenth, citing bookstats 2012. He told me: 

• He turned down a two-book offer of more than half a million dollars, to self publish APE;
• He gets more royalty (70 percent of $9.99), 
• more control of creative, production, and promotional efforts (i.e., selling to someone like you), 
• faster time to market (48n hours vs three to six months), 
• faster revision time (he and his team update once a month, from the time they upload the file to it's for sale is 24 hours, their print-on-demand service produces new versions in two days). 

But he also added a sense of risk and responsibility on the downside:

• For example, I had to find and pay the cover designer and copyeditor. Luckily my co-author could do the production. 
• I also paid for a publicity team and the tshirts. 
• All in, I probably spent $25,000. 

And it's not about something publishers do wrong. He told me he liked his last publisher a lot (Penguin's Portfolio brand published his books Enchantment, The Art of The Start, and Rules for Revolutionaries, all of which are best sellers.). He added: 

"I would work with every one of the people at Portfolio/Penguin if they were freelancers. This isn't about the people. The issue is the traditional publishing system."

The author I know of who took this same path is Seth Godin, author of Purple Cow and many others, who coined the phrase "viral marketing. His late 2011 announcement that he was done with traditional publishing got a lot of press. He said: 

"The ebook is a change agent like none the book business has ever seen. It cuts the publishing time cycle by 90%, lowers costs, lowers revenue and creates both a long tail and an impulse-buying opportunity. This is the most disruptive thing to happen to books in four hundred years."

What we see here is pivotal: self-publishing used to mean lesser work that couldn't find a publisher. Now it means disruption is gaining momentum. 

COMMENTARY:   I think Guy Kawasaki made the right decision self-publishing his latest book. He gets to keep a bigger piece of the sales pie.  For a well established and best selling author like Mr. Kawasaki, the risk involved is a lot less than it would be for a new unknown author.  The cards are generally not in favor of self-publishing because the writer has to pay for the costs of editing, printing, marketing and distributing the book, something major publishers like Penguin Books are experienced at doing.  They also take a bigger cut of the profits, leaving the author with a very small percentage, generally between 20 to 25% of hardbook cover sales, and maybe a bit more on softcover sales.   

Having said this, by 2016, PwC expects, “e-books will account for half of total spending on consumer books” in the U.S. and the total U.S. consumer book market (print + digital) will be worth $21 billion, up from $19.5 billion in 2011.

North America eBook Actual and Forecasted Revenues

2009: $500 mil
2010: $1,200 mil
2011: $2,696 mil ------out of $19.5 billion book market (print+ digital)
2012: $4,326 mil
2013: $5,992 mil
2014: $7,653 mil
2015: $9,324 mil
2016; $10,905 mil------out of $21 billion book market (print + digital)

Global eBook eBook and Forecasted Revenues 

Worldwide eBook Revenues - 2009 through 2016 - PwC (Click Image To Enlarge)

U.S. eBook Reader Revenues Actual and Forecasted

US eBook Reader Revenue - 2009 Through 2013 - Yankee Group

Courtesy of an article dated March 18, 2013 appearing in The Huffington Post The Blog 

STUDY: ONLY 1 IN 4 MOBILE MARKETERS SAY MOBILE STRATEGIES NOT YET WELL DEFINED, 63% WANT TO INCREASE REVENUES VIA MOBILE

Just 1 in 4 “mainstream mobile” companies report having a well defined mobile strategy, according to a study from Econsultancy in association with Kontagent.

Two Types of Mobile Marketers

The survey divided the 823 respondents with an active mobile program into a group defined as “mobile first” (who have a majority of customers/audience access their site via mobile devices, or have a primary revenue stream from mobile), comparing them with the remainder, the “mobile mainstream.”

1. Mobile first businesses – Companies that count mobile as their main funding stream or whose customers or audience(s) primarily access their site(s) via mobile devices, and 
2. The mobile mainstream – The bulk of respondents whose mobile programs cut across business sectors and company types.

Key Findings of Econsultancy/Kontagent Study

• A majority of companies do not have a well-defined mobile strategy or fail to track mobile-specific KPIs.
• Most mainstream mobile programs are not focused on revenue.
• The app ecosystem is firmly rooted and is the main monetisation source for many.
• Agencies believe marketing organisations fall short of mobile expectations.

Predictably, the “mobile first” group were much more likely to report having a well defined mobile strategy. Still, strategies are not ubiquitous at those companies either: despite having mobile be a key business influence, only 64% said they have a well-defined mobile strategy. Agency respondents to the survey tended to share the overall sentiment: 19% agreed with the statement that “most marketing organizations have a strategy around their mobile programs,” while 54% disagreed.

While strategies may remain underdeveloped, that may change in the near future, with 45% of the “mobile mainstream” and 71% of the “mobile first” groups saying that senior management, marketing, and technology work together to define mobile strategy.

Econsultancy Mobile Marketing Strategies Study - March 2013 (Click Image To Enlarge)

Also encouraging are results suggesting that on the whole, respondents are satisfied with how their mobile efforts are faring. 70% of the “mobile first” companies, and 61% of the “mobile mainstream” said their mobile offerings are either meeting or exceeding expectations, although the researchers caution that a significant proportion (14% and 21%, respectively) either did not have well-defined expectations or have don’t have sufficient data to know.

The study finds that although most marketers simply “rushed to bring their mobile programs online” without much consideration of an overarching strategy, that won’t hold them back from increasing their investments this year. Roughly 7 in 10 respondents from each group said they’ll increase spending on mobile this year. That supports recent survey findings from Forrester Consulting, which indicated thatmobile marketing budgets will rise this year despite concerns about ROI.

About the Data: The Mobile Sophistication and Strategy Study is largely based on the findings from a survey deployed on January 15, 2013, and closed on February 12, 2013. The study was initially fielded to the wider industry via Econsultancy and Kontagent lists through email and social media. To ensure a diverse and representative population, Econsultancy also used an external sample made up of a cross-section of companies with mobile programs across a range of industries.

The study closed with a total of 1,301 respondents. Of those, 232 were separated from the main sample because they did not meet the standard for having a mobile program. Agency respondents (n=246) were also given a different question set.

COMMENTARY:   2013 is set to become the year of the mobile device, at least when it comes to online marketing.

Smartphones and tablets have been on the rise for years, bolstered by a consumer craze over Apple's iPhone and iPad products, which now face notable competition from brands like the Samsung Galaxy S3 and S4 and Motorola Droid, among others.  That's not slowing down anytime soon.

As consumer forecasts predict a meteoric rise in the average person's mobile use over the next two years -- not only for communication but also for product research and even commercial transactions -- companies are now scrambling to get themselves ready for a newly active mobile market.

Small Businesses Turn Their Attention to Mobile Marketing Strategies in 2013

Until now, mobile marketing has been mostly an afterthought for all but the biggest of corporations. As consumers initially turned to mobile devices primarily for communication and only occasionally for web browsing or shopping, many companies assumed that extensive mobile development wasn't a worthwhile investment of time and resources. But now that's changing.

A recent survey from the MarketingSherpa research institute polled business owners on their short-term goals for mobile marketing in 2013.

Top Mobile Marketing Objectives - 2012 Mobile Marketing Benchmark Report (Click Image To Enlarge)

You can download a free excerpt from Marketing Sherpa's 2012 Mobile Marketing Benchmark Report by clicking HERE.

Courtesy of an article dated March 8, 2013 appearing in MarketingCharts.com and an article dated January 8, 2013 appearing in Marketing Sherpa

HITACHI UNVEILS THE 'ROPITS' SINGLE-PASSENGER AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE WITH GPS FOR URBAN DWELLERS

Hitachi's Ropits single passenger robot car (Click Image To Enlarge)

ROPITS (Robot for Personal Intelligent Transport System) is a single-passenger autonomous vehicle meant to travel on sidewalks. ROPITS is equipped with GPS, gyro sensor and laser sensors.  It can pick-up and drop off a passenger autonomously, while the vehicle can be controlled by a joystick controller in the cockpit.

Click Image To Enlarge

Hitachi has unveiled its Ropits single passenger robot car, which looks like a Fisher Price Cozy Coupe for adults and does the driving all on its own. The name and style prompt one to think of a science fiction contraption, but it’s the vehicle’s autonomic functionality that truly brings the idea of “futuristic” to the forefront.

Click Image To Enlarge

Ropits stands for Robot for Personal Intelligent Transport System, and was designed to aid those who find walking difficult. The idea is that Ropits vehicles could be outfitted in a city, for example, and hailed via a computer or kiosk of some sort positioned in various places around town. The robotic car will retrieve the passenger and whisk him or her away to their destination.

Click Image To Enlarge

It has GPS for easy navigation and laser distance sensors to determine obstacles and a gyro sensor for those uneven roads. It is also small enough that it can maneuver its way through pedestrian spaces without the walking “civilians” getting mad or hurt.

Click Image To Enlarge

The passenger has to indicate on the touch-screen map their desired destination and Ropits will do the rest. The system is also designed that anyone who needs to use the robot car can hail a Ropits from computer-networked stops around the city. If you’re worried about getting dizzy as it zigzags its way around the city, it has “active suspension” which controls each wheel individually to keep the passenger comfortably upright.

COMMENTARY:   I have a friend who could use  ROPITS vehicle right now.  He is disabled, so he cannot drive, and can barely walk to a bus stop or BART station, which means he has to pay for expensive taxi's to get around.  ROPITS would meet his needs perfectly.  When is this vehicle coming to the U.S.?

Courtesy of an article dated March 14, 2013 appearing in Robotic Trends

GOOGLE+ GAINING MOMENTUM WITH MAJOR BRANDS MARKETERS, FASHION AND AUTO BRANDS LEAD THE PACK

 

Tracking Google+, along with YouTube, gives marketers access to a varied audience segment not typically found on Facebook. The top 100 brands with pages on Google+ boast 20.9 million fans -- up 9,400% from 2011. In fact, the top 10 brands hold 78% of the total advocacy base in Google+.

The Social Share report from BrightEdge charts the growth of brands on Google+ and YouTube. The findings, which analyze social media adoption trends for the BrandZ top 100 global brands, suggest new audiences for brand marketers.

Of the 16.3 million followers, the clothing store H&M leads with about 2.555 million fans, according to the report. Aside from clothing, automotive takes four of the top 10 spots in Google+, up from zero in 2011.

• #1 - BMW leads with more than 2.2 million. 
• #2 - Mercedes-Benz with 2 million. 
• #3 - Nissan with 1.9 million. 
• #6 - Porsche took the sixth spot with 1.7 million 

BMW Homepage on Google+ (Click Image To Enlarge)

Google ranked #5 with 1.8 million.

Top 10 Google+ in 2012 + Brands Ranked by Number of Followers (Click Image To Enlarge)

Brands also continue to learn how to optimize profiles. About 25% added a profile link in 2012. Three of the top 10 brands promote their Google+ presence through links to their profile pages on company Web sites. These brands are Mercedes-Benz, Nissan and Samsung.

Some have begun to tie Google+ with YouTube, which many don't associate with being a social network.

Collectively, the top 100 brands on YouTube can count 3.1 billion views. The top 10 brands on the network support business to consumer relationships. Top ranked Google+ brands by views in 2012 were as follows:  

• #1 - Google with 718 million views. 
• #2 - Red Bull with 535 million views.
• #3 - Samsung with 160 million views. 
• #4 - Nokia with 139 million views. 
• #5 - Coca-Cola with 135 million views. 
• #6 - Apple with 103 million views.

Top 10 Google+ in 2012 + Brands Ranked by Number of Views (Click Image To Enlarge)

COMMENTARY:    Despite a late entry into social networking 17 months ago, Google+ is already able to claim 400 million users and 100 million monthly active users across both the website and the mobile apps at the end of December 2012.  That compares to just 250 million total users back in June 2012, suggesting the service is growing faster than ever.  Revealing the figures as part of his announcement of Google's latest corporate acquisition, a victorious Vic Gundotra said that his team "couldn't have imagined that so many people would join" within a year of G+ going public.

So how exactly do its users engage on Google+?  Checkout this infographic:

Click Image To Enlarge

Courtesy of an article dated February 11, 2013 appearing in MediaPost Publications Online Media Daily

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/193207/google-gaining-ground-with-brand-marketers.html?edition=56520#axzz2NgHi0rhv

DEEP INSIDE A MOUNTAIN IN ITALY, RESEARCH IS BEING CONDUCTED OF A MYSTERIOUS SUBSTANCE KNOWN AS 'DARK MATTER'

Schematic drawing of the Gran Sasso National Laboratory underground facility in Italy's Gran Sasso mountain range (Click Image To Enlarge)

In a man-made cavern, deep beneath a mountain, scientists are hoping to shed light on one of the most mysterious substances in our Universe - dark matter.

The Gran Sasso National Laboratory seems more like a Bond villain's lair than a hub for world class physics.

It's buried under the highest peak of Italy's Gran Sasso mountain range; the entrance concealed behind a colossal steel door found halfway along a tunnel that cuts through the mountain.

At the forefront of the hunt for elusive particles is the Gran Sasso National Laboratory, the largest underground facility of its kind (Click Image To Enlarge)

But there's a good reason for its subterranean location. The 1,400m of rock above means that it is shielded from the cosmic rays that constantly bombard the surface of our planet.

It provides scientists with the "silence" they need to understand some of the strangest phenomena known to physics.

Inside three vast halls, a raft of experiments are running - but with their latest addition, DarkSide50, scientists are setting their sights on dark matter.

Everything we know and can see in the Universe only makes up about 4% of the stuff that is out there.

The rest, scientists believe, comes in two enigmatic forms.

They predict that about 73% of the Universe is made up of dark energy - a pervasive energy field that acts as a sort of anti-gravity to stop the Universe from contracting back in on itself.

The other 23%, researchers believe, comes in the form of dark matter. The challenge is that until now nobody has seen it.

Layout of Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy's Gran Sasso mountain range houses the world's largest underground facility of its kind for conducting research on sub-atomic particles includes Project Xenon which is conducting research for detecting dark matter (Click Image To Enlarge) 

What is dark matter?

• Normal matter gives out or absorbs light to make it visible, but matter doesn't have to interact with light this way
• Astrophysicists calculate that there isn't enough visible matter to explain the rotation of galaxies
• They proposed a type of matter that we can't detect in the normal way - dark matter
• You can't see dark matter directly with telescopes, but its gravitational effect can be seen on visible matter
• Dark matter should be all around us, so scientists are developing new ways to detect these mysterious particles

Dr Chamkaur Ghag, a particle physicist from University College London, explains:

"We think it is in the form of a particle. We have protons, neutrons and electrons and all these regular normal particles that you associate building things with. We think dark matter is a particle too, it's just an odd form of matter in the fact that we don't perceive it very readily.  And that is because it doesn't feel the electromagnetic force - light doesn't bounce off it, we don't interact with it very strongly."

Physicists have called these dark matter contenders Weakly Interacting Massive Particles - or WIMPS.

They believe millions of them are passing through us every second without a trace.

But very occasionally one will bump into a piece of "regular" matter - and that is what they are hoping to detect with DarkSide50.

Inside the Gran Sasso National Laboratory scientists hope to detect that rare event when a particle of dark "stuff" bumps into regular matter (Click Image To Enlarge)

Inside a house-sized tank, a large metal sphere holds a particle detector called a scintillator.

This container is filled with 50kg of liquid argon and a thick layer of the element in its gas form.

Dr Ghag says.

"If a dark matter particle comes in and hits the argon, the recoiling atom gets a kick of energy and it quickly tries to get rid of it.  In argon it gets rid of it by kicking out light; it sheds photons.  But it also gives charge: some electrons that are liberated from the interaction site. And those electrons drift up into a gas layer, and when they hit the gas and you get another flash of light."

As dark matter particles steam through the detector, scientists hope that a few will collide with the argon atoms. This will generate two flashes of light - one in the liquid argon and another in the gas - which will be detected by the receptors. (Click Image To Enlarge)

In DarkSide, dark-matter particles are detected in a two-phase liquid-argon TPC surrounded by a neutron veto of liquid scintillator (spherical vessel), inside 1000 m3 of water to veto muons. Image credit: DarkSide collaboration. (Click Image To Enlarge)

Until now, the hunt for dark matter has proved elusive.

Some experiments claim to have seen signals of dark matter in the form of annual modulation.

This is the idea that the number of these particles we should be detecting changes as the seasons change.

That's because as the Earth moves around the Sun, it is moving into a stationary field of dark matter - and for half the year it will be moving against the tide of dark matter - just like driving into the rain. But for the other half it will be moving with this tide and less dark matter will hit.

But other researchers have questioned attributing these seasonal variations that have been detected to dark matter.

Scientists of the Gran Sasso National Laboratory are conducting experiments to detect dark matter inside a cavernous room underground (Click Image To Enlarge)

Other experiments have run for long periods of times without so much as a hint of the stuff.

One, called XENON100, which is also in Gran Sasso, ran for the course of a year, but only saw two "events" - not enough to rule out that this might have been some stray background radiation.

But with DarkSide50, there seems to be a new push to find some answers.

Alongside this experiment, another large detector - LUX - which is in a gold mine in South Dakota in the US will soon be coming online.

And in the next few years, scientists are planning even more ambitions detectors, such as XENON1T and LUX-Zeplin - they are hoping to find the first experimental evidence of these particles.

Aldo Ianni, from the DarkSide50 team, says:

"Dark matter is really a major scientific goal at the present time.  It will help us understand a big fraction of our Universe that we don't understand at the present time. We know there is dark matter - but we have to understand what this dark matter is made of."

Fruitless search?

Professor Stefano Ragazzi, director of the Gran Sasso National Laboratory, hopes that the first glimpse of dark matter will be in his research facility.

He explains.

"There is competition amongst different experiments - so when you compete you prefer to win rather than coming second or third.  The feeling is that dark matter could be just around the corner, so everybody is rushing to be the first to find it."

However, he admits that there is always the chance that these experiments may find nothing at all - and dark matter may not be in the form of WIMPs.

Professor Ragazzi says:

"We may find that we have the wrong hypothesis… [dark matter] may be something completely different.  But it may be even more interesting not finding dark matter than finding it."

In the next few weeks DarkSide50 will be fully kitted out, the surrounding tank flooded with purified water, and then the scientists will have to watch and wait.

But Dr Ghag says despite the uncertainties, the potential reward of finding dark matter would be huge.

He explains.

"If we did find dark matter, then we'd have done would be to solved one of nature's best kept secrets. And that would have been to have figured out what a quarter of the Universe is made of. That would be a revolutionary discovery - it would change our understanding of the Universe, the way it formed, and the way it will evolve."

COMMENTARY:    

Why Scientists Believe Dark Matter Exists

The following video from Canada's Perimeter Institute For Theoretical Physics explains why scientists believe there is "missing or unseen mass" that does not emit, reflect or absorb any type of electromagnetic radiation or light and is necessary in order to keep galaxies from spinning out of control and breaking apart as they spin.  This missing mass is now referred to as dark matter, or matter that cannot be seen.    

 

The Technology Behind DarkSide50

DarkSide50 is a new experiment that uses novel techniques to suppress background sources as much as possible, while also understanding them well. The programme centres on a series of detectors of increasing mass, each making possible a convincing claim for the detection of dark matter based on the observation of a few well characterized nuclear-recoil events in an exposure of several years. The design concept involves a two-phase, liquid-argon time-projection chamber (LAr-TPC) in which the energy released in WIMP-induced nuclear recoils can produce both scintillation and ionization. Arrays of photomultiplier tubes at the bottom and top of the cylindrical active volume detect the scintillation light. A pair of novel transparent high-voltage electrodes and a field cage provide a uniform drift field of about 1 kV/cm to extract the ionization produced. A reflective, wavelength-shifting lining renders the scintillation light from the argon (wavelength 128 nm) visible to the photomultipliers.

In a two-phase argon TPC, rejection of background comes from three independent discrimination parameters: pulse-shape analysis of the direct liquid-argon scintillation signal (S1); the ratio of ionization produced in an event to scintillation, where the former is read out by extracting ionization electrons from the liquid into the gaseous argon phase, where they are accelerated and emit light through electroluminescence (S2); and reconstruction of the event’s location in 3D using the TPC. The z co-ordinates for the event are determined by the time delay between S2 and S1, while the transverse co-ordinates are determined through the distribution of the S2 light across the layer of photomultiplier tubes.

In a typical target, there are three main sources of background at energies up to tens of kilo-electron-volts: natural β and γ radioactivity, which induces electron recoils; α decays on the surface of the target in which the daughter nucleus recoils into the target and the α particle remains undetected; and nuclear recoils produced by the elastic scattering of background neutrons. This latter process is nearly indistinguishable from the signals expected for WIMPs and requires an efficient neutron veto in the apparatus.

As in other experiments searching for rare events, DarkSide’s detectors will be constructed using materials with low intrinsic radioactivity. In particular, the experiment uses underground argon with extremely low quantities of ³⁹Ar, which is present in atmospheric argon at levels of about 1Bq/kg as a result of the interaction of cosmic rays, primarily with ⁴⁰Ar. The DarkSide collaboration has developed processes to extract argon from underground gas wells, where the proportion of ³⁹Ar is low. A particularly good source of underground argon is in the Kinder Morgan Doe Canyon Complex in Colorado. The CO₂ natural gas extracted there contains about 600 ppm of argon. The DarkSide collaboration has operated an extraction facility at the Kinder Morgan site since February 2010; it has to date extracted some 90 kg of underground depleted argon and subsequently distilled 23 kg to about 99.99% purity. (The throughput is about 1 kg/day, with 99% efficiency.) Studies of the residual ³⁹Ar content of the distilled gas with a low-background detector at the Kimballton Underground Research Facility, Virginia, give an upper limit for the ³⁹Ar content equivalent to 0.6% of the ³⁹Ar in atmospheric argon.

It is not only the argon that has to have low intrinsic radioactivity. Nuclear recoils produced by energetic neutrons that scatter only once in the active volume form a background that is, on an event-by-event basis, indistinguishable from dark-matter interactions. Neutrons capable of producing these recoil backgrounds are created by radiogenic processes in the detector material. In detectors made from clean materials, the dominant source of the radiogenic neutrons is typically the photodetectors, so ultralow background photodetectors are another important goal for DarkSide. A long-term collaboration with the Hamamatsu Corporation has resulted in the commercialization of 3-inch photomultiplier tubes with a total γ activity of around only 60 mBq per tube, with a further 10-fold reduction foreseen in the near future.

To measure and exclude neutron background produced by cosmic-ray muons, the DarkSide TPC will be deployed within an active neutron veto based on liquid scintillator, which will in turn be deployed within 1000 m³ of water in a tank 10 m high and 11 m in diameter, which was previously used in the Borexino Counting Test Facility at Gran Sasso. The liquid-scintillator neutron veto is a unique feature of the DarkSide design and is filled with ultrapure, boron-loaded organic scintillator, which has been distilled using the purification system of the Borexino experiment. The water serves as a Cherenkov detector to veto muons. Monte Carlo simulations suggest that with this combined veto system, the number of neutron events generated by cosmic-rays at the depth of the Gran Sasso Laboratory should be negligible, even for exposures of the order of tonne-years.

The DarkSide programme will follow a staged approach. The collaboration has been operating DarkSide 10, a prototype detector with a 10 kg active mass, in the underground laboratory at Gran Sasso since September 2011. This has been a valuable test bed during the construction of the veto system. It has allowed the light-collection, high-voltage and TPC field structures – and the data-acquisition and particle-discrimination analysis systems – to be optimized using γ and americium-beryllium sources. The first physics detector in the programme, DarkSide 50, should be deployed inside the completed veto system in the Gran Sasso Laboratory by the end of 2012. Looking forward to the second generation, upgrades to the underground argon plants are planned, and the nearly completed veto system has been designed to accommodate a DarkSide-G2 detector, which will have a fiducial mass of 3.5 tonnes.

Courtesy of an article dated February 5, 2013 appearing in BBC News Science & Environment and article dated May 31, 2012 appearing in CERN Courier