Genius is a new web analytics service that claims to tear down the walls between lead generation, the corporate web site, and sales. The Genius launch party last night at the San Francisco MOMA was remarkable in many ways. It was a true demonstration of “how do I create buzz without having any customers yet?”
First, the start-up managed to get the smartest guys in the room into one place and make them feel even smarter. Second, Genius lived up to its name: whoever expected a modest event was dead wrong by any standards. Instead, it was a celebration of BIGNESS and BOLDNESS (including the self-created Genius Awards for accomplished professionals in high-tech marketing). It was like reliving the gilded era of booze, sushi, and geeky glam in the heyday of dot-coms.
“Web analytics is dead,” boasted David Thompson, former WebEx CMO and now Genius CEO, in his State of Marketing address, “Here comes web analytics.” Thompson is smart, a real marketing genius indeed, and the confidence he and his company’s launch party demonstrated was genuine. Charisma is definitely back in the CEO’s toolbox. San Francisco 2.0: High-tech is becoming pop again. And the best way to become a pop star is to behave like one.
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