eComXpo: Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Operation?
Today, only the most buzz-worthy net-centrics know that Yahoo! actually began as an acronym. What does it mean? We'll get to that in a second.
Today we have yet another new buzz-worthy acronym which we believe will have equally important significance: eComXpo. What does it mean? We'll get to that now.
eComXpo is our industry's first online virtual tradeshow for eCommerce Marketers. Unlike Yahoo!, it is not a tongue-twister, nor does it require that you to have a Stanford PhD to de-acronym-ize it. It is what it sounds like, the virtual trade show for ecommerce marketers.
Yet similarly, Jerry Yang's "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle" impact on the era we live in today may be the giant whose shoulders eComXpo is standing on.
No need for a pedicure. eComXpo "stands" apart from other trade shows because it is a virtual trade show that attendees can access exhibitor info without the tired legs and bunions that come with aisle-walking at the end of the day. Just get that manicure and you're on your way to check out the email, search, affiliate, regulatory, branding and advertising exhibitors.
At the dawn of the net-empire, Jerry Yang set up a system of categories and began to classify Web sites accordingly. Web surfers flocked to the site because no one could find anything on the Web in the early 1990s. We busy bees buzzed over to Yahoo and the rest - as they say - is history.
Well, the Grosshandler brothers, eComXpo creators have set up a system of categorizing exhibitors. Now web evangelists, specifically with an e-commerce ear are busy as bees buzzing over to this first-ever virtual trade show because no one can find anything on the web like it in the 21st century, just yet.
Most of us know that the Google name was chosen to represent the gigantic amount of material available on the Web. It comes from "googol;" the number 1 followed by 100 zeros.
Yet how many know that Yahoo! stands for "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle?" There are so many things we love about our first world-class aggregator directory. However, other than its functionality, the thing that tickles us most is it's very "Stanford-Tech Major/English Minor" quality.
We admire the wit Jerry and David brought to the creation of their e-dream machine. They were smart enough to resist taking themselves too seriously by ironically taking an overly high-flatulent name!
Back in the early days of the net, Jerry and David's plan to take over the world reflected a self-deprecating smirk. You can almost hear them joke about it! "That's right Chip and Buffy, it's yet another hierarchical officious oracle, Jeeves. I'll have my brandy, pipe and smoking jacket now in the game room". It's that over-emphasized hoity-toity "gee whiz, ain't I important" that we actually love. It cracks us up, especially considering it's a directory made for the masses.
It's something we think they should return to. It's in their DNA. Hey Jerry, do you hear us?
Jumping back to eComXpo, we stand on its feet for a moment to put this all in context. How will ad:tech, our pillar-of-ad-community trade show stand up to this new competitor?
It's like this. First, let's establish that ad:tech has a strong and long life ahead of it. It's our industry's "meet and greet" technological bee hive. Nothing can replace seeing the "white in your eye" as part of determining if there's chemistry between two people or two organizations.
Ad:tech is our natural pollinator for forming relationships.
eComXpo is an excellent info-gathering forum where people can learn about your company while ad:tech provides that "white in the eye" experience!
That said, one veteran of eComXpo says that "while the technology is fun at first, it is more of pain than a live show". There's still a little areas for improvement in this new virtual walled garden.
eComXpo's 3-day Fall 2006 show begins today. We expect its model will become more the norm for people to access information in-and-on every industry on the planet.
We see it somewhere between the "virtual-ness" of Yahoo! and the "business as usual" purpose of ad:tech. There's no question that - like Yahoo! and ad:tech - its success is a given. However, we hope it doesn’t take itself too seriously. If it does, it risks tasting less like honey versus feeling more like a bee-sting.
