Andrew Armour's Benchstone Blog
On Coaching, Marketing, Partnerships, Innovation & Collaboration – From Andrew Armour
Trust is always a vital but often enigmatic ingredient in collaborative business relationships. In Part One, I explored why, for some people, it is often their biological wiring that leads them to shy away from investing in a new relationship. In this follow-up piece, I am going to look at the commercial aspects of trust – and what you can do to encourage it within marketing partnerships.
Continue reading “Trust & Marketing Partnerships: Part Two”
Despite 300 years of business history and the best brands today consistently demonstrating that collaboration is the driver of innovation – why do most organisations still struggle to source and keep meaningful, long-term marketing alliances and partnerships? It is tempting to turn to issues regarding technology, markets, mechanics and commercial returns but one of the key hurdles is quite simple and very, very human: Trust is the magical ingredient and if you don’t have it, creative marketing partnership and innovative pioneering with a third-party is impossible.
Continue reading “Trust & Marketing Partnerships: Part One”
London 2012 will be the first Olympiad of the iPhone, Tablet, Facebook and Twitter era. Of course, the iPhone was released in 2007 – before the 2008 summer games in Athens but it was not until late 2008 that it took off globally and it was only in early 2009 that their rival Android smartphones began to appear and grow the overall market too. Likewise, whilst Twitter was launched in 2007 it was only in 2009 that it became a mainstream social media player. London 2012 sponsors and media partners are likely now planning exciting mobile, UGC and social media ideas into their plans for next summer – but what if this these ever more important platforms turn out to be an even more powerful tool – for the hijack marketers?
Continue reading “Social Media Benefit For 2012 Sponsors: Or 2012 Hijackers?”
In marketing alliances, Momentum is the engine that drives the initiative and decides whether parties can extract the value they need.
You can never underestimate the power of ‘the Big Mo’. In 2000 Malcolm Gladwell wrote his classic The Tipping Point – spreading the belief that ‘ideas and transformation spread like viruses’. A good alliance, also needs to reach a Tipping Point, with the three elements identified by Gladwell; Contagiousness, Little Causes & Big Effects and – Dramatic Change. In marketing alliances, Momentum is the engine that drives these elements. Without momentum new relationships enter a lethargic spiral and there never is a Tipping Point…
Continue reading “Has YouView Got Momentum?”
It was great to this week receive a re-posting of my Partnership Marketing Manifesto from the bona fide marketing legend – Gary Hamel. Currently Hamel is Visiting Professor of Strategic and International Management at the London Business School and also the Innovation Architect at the very interesting website – The Management Information eXchange – MIX. Hamel is of course the author behind such seminal texts as ‘Competing For The Future’ , the superb ‘Alliance Advantage’ and a further seven leading books on competitive marketing and innovation. Why did I decide to promote a Partnership Manifesto within MIX?
Continue reading “A Marketing Partnership Manifesto –”
When faced with lightning fast changes to core technology why try to solve everything yourself? In an uncertain marketing landscape why choose to cross it alone? As Kevin Kelly pointed out in a great piece from mid-2010 the smartest businesses form alliances, build collaborations and use the power of networks to get an advantage.
Continue reading “Why You Cannot Go Alone”
The creative industries and Google have not always been a perfect union and the term ‘frienemy’ better describes it. Interesting to see Google therefore creating its own digital magazine -‘Think Quarterly’ – designed by The Church Of London Agency and distributed for their top partners and advertisers. As befits Google, it has no advertising and all the content is free. Just the way Google likes it. Do No Evil and all that. And – it is a decent read. The first issue is based around the theme of data – and has a lot of proper articles on the good, the bad and the ugly side of data, plus Near Field Communications, Mobile marketing and of course – Search. Further issues are set for May, July and October – and you can receive RSS. A nice article explains more about it in Media Guardian. Google launches Think Quarterly magazine.
Adam Crozier, the Chief Executive of ITV reveals in an interview in The Guardian that collaborative partnerships will be vital to the future of the broadcaster – and in a multi-channel and ‘non-linear’ world, content owners and distribution channels will have to look at challening new models, including working with brands and organisations traditionally viewed as their media rivals. This reflects the broader trend for collaboration and partnerships to be increasingly seen as the key driver for innovation (see my earlier post on this trend at http://tinyurl.com/6cyhyzp.
Continue reading “ITV’s Crozier: Collaborative Media Partnerships Are Key”
The great engineer and computer pioneer Andy Grove of Intel, famously stated that ‘you cannot measure if you cannot manage – and what doesn’t get measured doesn’t get done’. The ability to understand performance, from costs to revenues, from click throughs to retention rates is at the heart of effective management. Below is a great piece from Seth Godin that succinctly points out what many marketers, product managers and technicians know to be true in their hearts: that a regular metric or report that is produced with much reverance and seriousness (and time) – is actually less important and insightful than we say it is. But we continue to produce it and see it as ‘work’.
Continue reading “Is Something Important – Just Because You Can Measure It?”
This is a very interesting piece by Henry Chesbrough that explains the dilema that technology marketers have created by being caught up in the endless loop of ‘innovation’ – which for many means continuous product development cycles, rather than thinking about their models – leading them to being increasingly commodified. I have always felt that the most interesting aspect of Apple was not the iPod and iPhone themselves (brilliant though they may be) – but the fact they built a vibrant new model for selling music and then apps. My view of course, as shown by the General Electric Innovation report from January this year – is that genuine innovation comes not from internal product refinement, but from collaborating with partners. In the meantime – enjoy this great piece by Chesbrough. via Nokia’s Real Problem: The Commodity Trap [Blog].
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