Andrew Armour's Benchstone Blog
On Coaching, Marketing, Partnerships, Innovation & Collaboration – From Andrew Armour
There are ideas that start off sounding good and end up being bad. They often are brilliantly designed by frightfully clever and confident people but end up being the dreaded ‘technology looking for a market’. Like the Segway, for example.
Continue reading “Review Of The Galaxy Tab: Five Reasons Why I’m In Love.”
The iPad and Google Tablet momentum will grow and grow through to xmas now and the article below by paidContent:UK poses a further interesting point as to whether such devices will be the death nail or the saviour of newspapers. I have now had my lush Galaxy Tab for two weeks and so will soon be posting a blog on what I have learnt about it and how I see it and other Tab/Pad-like devices fitting in. For those thinking these are just big phones and awkward laptops need to re-consider. These products are massive game changers.
Continue reading “The iPad? It May Or May Not Be – The Great Saviour Of Newspapers”
Everything is going to be connected to everything. But this sound like a good thing: Social Media News and Web Tips – Mashable – The Social Media Guide
via LinkedIn Launches Share Button.
Sly Bailey, being a great marketer and CEO of the UK’s biggest newspaper group Trinity Media has recently suggested that media industry needs to adopt some good old fashioned P’s to help find its feet in an ever complex and frustrating technological world. Marketers love P’s. Personally I love ‘F’ words – but that was a previous post of mine. But she has suggested some different P’s for the media and content marketers to consider: PORTABILITY, PERSONALISATION. And the last one? The tricky one: PAYMENT.
Continue reading “Sly Bailey: She Has Three Ps For Media. What About The 4th?”
Interesting. Maybe The Guardian needs a firewall afterall?
paidContent:UK
via Change Of Direction For Guardian Media Group?.
A great piece by Godin on the importance of doing ‘better’, smarter work – and the importance of coaching. Work smarter not harder is a cliche but there is a lot of truth to it. A lesson I learnt early in my career was that sometimes it was better to have three to four solid decent projects that were well managed, than betting all your time on a trying to land that large, complicated project that sucked resources and energy. In football and rugby, trying to land that super pass and going past a packed defence is in the vast majority of cases just dumb footie. Coaching your team to do the right things more often, show flair at the right times and being ‘smarter’ with how you implement things if often real foundation for success.
Seth Godin
The battle lines are drawn up. Between those that believe that content should only be accessed via subscriptions and paid for by consumers and users (which is of course stupid) and those that think expensively created media should instead be exported everywhere for free (which is even more stupid). Can you build a commercial model off ancillary rights and advertising even though you make only a few pence from your creative work itself? Fine if you’re Lady Ga-Ga. Not so easy if you’re a composer who wants to earn money for writing and recording beautiful music rather than being a celebrity and souvinir peddlar. And social media, iPads and Android powered Slates are being seen by some as the saviour; re-engaging the audience in great content and providing a great advertising platform too. The article below contains an overview of the guide that journalists from The Guardian take into account before tweeting and feeding their content (for free of course…) to other media. Like many aspects of modern marketing – decision making, responsibility and brand is devolved. The Revolution is Devolution. And the first word in the Guardian’s guide for using social media? PARTICIPATE.
Media news, UK and world media comment and analysis | Media …
via Open door: The Guardian’s head of digital engagement on … the rules of participation.
Everyone likes a good list don’t they? They’ve been around since Moses brought some down from Sinai all those years ago. From the ‘Best Six Wives of HenryVIII’ to the Top Ten 90’s Dance Trax – and of course the old xmas pub favourite, The Top Ten England Soccer Players off all time: everyone likes a good list. TechCrunch have come up with their own list of Best Android Apps – which is a good starter for ten. See below. As I’ve been using both an iPhone and Android over the past 2 years I have come to see the strengths, weaknesses, beauty and frustrations of both systems. Overall, I think my lovely Droid shaves (just) past the gleamingly smooth iPhone as it is a better phone and does the vast majority of what I want the device to do (email, blogging, social networks, search, maps) – better and faster than the lovely but strangely annoying Apple. A few top Apps from me to add to this list from TechCrunch;
But if you want to know what the brains from TechCrunch think – see there list of Top 30 here. via Top 30 Android Apps Of All Time.
It is often alleged that the London Underground discovers a whole laboratory of unknown bacterial whenever a scientist has time to test the seats with his trusty cotton bud. But soon, the converged bleep bleeps of pods, pads, droids and berrys will be part of the morning tube. From Monday, Charing Cross rolls out a trial of wi-fi Underground.
Media news, UK and world media comment and analysis | Media …
via Tube Wi-Fi a step closer with Charing Cross trial.
Just as I am increasingly suspicious of brain storming – so I am increasingly suspicious of marketers who rant about ‘outside of the box’ and ‘blue sky thinking’. Just as creativity is often over emphasised in marketing communications, so the wacky march to bleeding edge ideas that often seem like the dance of the desparate. This is the theme of a great piece by Steven Johnson where he points out the dangers of searching for that ‘eureka’ moment. Surely the most popular buzzword ever from the history of greek mathematics? The most successful marketers and entrepreneurs that I have met do not confuse random ideas and guesses and sudden insights – with being a smart operator. Sure, you need a spark and you need to do find ways of doing things better – but this is only part of the story.Equally, good marketing partnerships are less about schmoozing and wild promises and more about establishing the right foundations, clear direction, refining a prospect list and being clear about what you can offer that will benefit the other party.
Media news, UK and world media comment and analysis | Media …
via Steven Johnson: ‘Eureka moments are very, very rare’.
Andrew Armour's Benchstone Blog 