Here is a ‘podcast’ about my SXSW presentation in 1999.

Of course it’s ai-generated, and welcome to what’s next!

SXSW has a history going back almost 40 years, catalogued on its website. However, it’s just select snippets from what MUST be a truly INCREDIBLE historic archive!

Should SXSW “AI-ify” all that content someday? 🤔

TRANSCRIPT

Online shopping these days. It’s like trying to keep up with a rocket. Right. Well, buckle up, because we’re hitting rewind back to a time before same day delivery was a thing before you could even order groceries from your phone. For smartphones, period. We’re talking 1999. Yeah, you heard that right. 1999 South by Southwest Interactive. The dawn of the.com boom.

People thought they could sell anything online and everyone was scrambling to figure out how. Luckily for us, someone was there taking notes or more accurately, giving a presentation. Exactly.

We unearthed this gem of a talk. And let me tell you, it’s like a time capsule from the future of shopping. Our guide on this trip down memory lane is Robb Bush, marketing guru extraordinaire, working at a company called i2.

Right? And he doesn’t disappoint. He steps onto that SXSW stage with his bold prediction. Commerce is about to get a whole lot faster. He called it high velocity commerce. Catchy, right? But back then, no one even knew what that meant. So let’s dive in, shall we? Picture this. It’s 1999. The Dot-Com hype is real. And Robb’s blowing minds with these new marketing opportunities.

He’s talking about things like 1 to 1 marketing and customer profiling. Now remember this is before Facebook, before every website was tracking your every move. It’s like he was speaking a foreign language, except it was the language of the future. And get this. He was already warning people about the potential downsides. Like what happens when everyone is selling someone else’s products?

He called it the de-contextualization of marketing messages. Think about how relevant that is today with online marketplaces and all those targeted ads following you around. It’s like he could see the future of the internet, both the good and the well, maybe not so good, but the real heart of his presentation was this. What were consumers expecting from this brave new world of online shopping?

And get ready for it, because it sounds eerily familiar. Go on. He said online shoppers in 1999 wanted to – get this – higher quality, tailored products the best price delivered. Ready for this tomorrow? Tomorrow? Yeah, in 1999. That would have blown people’s minds. Back then, tomorrow meant waiting a week, maybe more. Exactly. And you have to hand it to Robb Bush.

He didn’t shy away from the challenges. He put it out there asking businesses, can you develop, buy, make, move, store, sell and deliver with the responsiveness required for high velocity commerce? The man was throwing down the gauntlet. He was. And here’s the real kicker. How can you support the level of customization and personalization promised? See, he knew speed wasn’t enough.

It had to be personalized speed. He was talking about a whole new way of doing business. He called it integrated demand planning and fulfillment. Okay, so what in the world does that even mean? It sounds pretty technical, even for a bunch of techies back in 99, it does sound a bit like something you’d need a dictionary for, right?

Well, it might sound complicated, but it’s actually the blueprint for how we shop online today. Imagine, if you will, a world where businesses can predict what you want. Predict. Come on. That’s straight out of Minority Report. Well, maybe not predict exactly, but get pretty darn close. Think about it. Businesses could configure products on demand, give you instant pricing, and guarantee delivery dates.

Hold up. This is 1999, right? We’re talking dial up modems and those clunky computer monitors. Is that even possible back then? That’s the thing. It wasn’t. At least not on the scale that Bush was imagining. He was basically predicting the rise of cloud computing, sophisticated algorithms, the whole shebang. He knew that businesses would need to connect the dots between different departments, different systems, to make it happen.

It’s like he could see the matrix or something. But how do you propose they actually do it? What were those acronyms again? CRM, a SCM&O. It’s like alphabet soup over here. He was definitely ahead of his time with those acronyms, but they actually make a lot of sense. CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. Basically, it’s all about understanding your customers.

Like what do they like? What do they buy, what makes them tick. So CRM is like the digital equivalent of that shop owner who knows everyone’s name and their favorite order. You got it. And then there’s SCM&O, Supply Chain Management and operations. This is the behind the scenes magic of getting a product from the factory to your doorstep.

Okay, so that’s like the logistics crew making sure everything runs smoothly. Exactly. And last but not least, PLM product lifecycle management. This one’s all about the journey of a product from the initial idea all the way to when it’s discontinued.

So are you saying that Robb Bush basically predicted the entire e-commerce ecosystem we have today? Back in 1999.

That’s wild. It’s pretty mind blowing, right? He saw that to create this high velocity commerce, you needed to connect all these different parts of a business. It wasn’t just about selling things online. It was about creating a whole new way of operating. And a big part of that was putting the customer at the center of it all. It’s like he was saying, hey, forget mass production, let’s focus on personalization.

But wasn’t there a risk of losing that human touch in all this technology? That’s a great question. And it’s something that Bush was acutely aware of. He knew that technology alone wasn’t enough. You needed something else to build trust, to create a sense of community in this new digital marketplace. So he wasn’t just talking about algorithms and supply chains.

There was a human side to his vision, too. Absolutely. He talked about building knowledge in consumer communities, places where people could connect, share information, get advice. Wait a minute. Is he talking about online reviews back in 1999? He might as well have been. Yeah. He understood that even in a digital world. People still craved connection. That sense of community you get from interacting with others.

So he wasn’t just predicting Amazon. He was predicting the rise of online forums, product reviews, maybe even influencer marketing. It’s all connected. Exactly. And here’s the kicker. A lot of what Bush talked about back then, it’s just, well, it’s just how we shop now. Personalized recommendations, instant delivery. The whole nine yards. It’s like he had a crystal ball and he saw the future of online shopping.

It makes you wonder what would he think of e-commerce today, right? Would he be impressed or would he be like, ‘what took you so long’? It’s probably a bit of both. But one thing’s for sure. His call to action is more relevant than ever. Enhance the way you do business. Seize new marketing opportunities. Build customer relationships, improve operational efficiency, and gain a competitive advantage.

Those words could have been spoken today. It’s true. It’s like the fundamentals of business. They never really change, do they? It’s all about adapting. Evolving. Staying one step ahead. Well said. And on that note, I think we’ve reached the end of our journey back to the dot.com frontier. It’s amazing how much has changed in 25 years and how much has stayed the same.

The desire for connection, for a seamless and personalized experience. It’s what drives us as consumers. It’s true. And who knows what the future holds. Maybe in another 25 years someone will unearth this very podcast and marvel at how we used to shop with just our phones. The cycle continues. I wouldn’t be surprised. But until then, we can keep exploring, keep innovating, keep chasing that high velocity commerce dream.

Here’s to the future of shopping. Thanks for joining us for this deep dive, everyone. Until next time.