Category: New Marketing Thinking

What % Should Apple And Google Be Taking?

For anyone intersted in the creation of media content the piece below by James McQuivey of Paid Content makes for some sobering reading. As a colleague told me two years ago technology companies are selling expensive chip driven hardware and network driven data plans -on the back of the appeal that is created by the content created by journalists, musicians and other creators.In the clamour to reach the potential gold of sexy new users the content creators have bent over to supply. It is well known that the biggest winners in the gold rush were Levi jeans, the banks, railroads and shovels: all selling stuff to the gold miners, who thought that their reward would come later.

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Sony Ericsson Shows Power Of Collaboration

Last week the media and marketing blogs were filled up with the news that Microsoft and Nokia had announced a strategic alliance that will replace Nokia’s Symbian with Windows Mobile. Quite rightly this is a big deal – the potential for a massive new development to challenge the march of Apple-Android in high-end smartphones. But some brands in this market already seem to have collaboration within their DNA.

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Microsoft-Nokia Partnership. What To Do?

Interesting piece from Brian X Chen of Wired on what Microsoft and Nokia may need to do now. Nobody said a marketing collaboration of this scale was going to be easy. Chen points out the need to Ship Fast, Differentiate, Cultivate Developers, Fire at low end & high ends of the market, Avoid alienating partners and Fragmentation. All good points by Chen.

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Will Pubs Reduce Their Beer Prices For Free Footie?

Below is a great piece that spells out the importance of a key European case concerning cross-border rights and access to Premier league footie. Once again – rights owners, creators of content and production companies are coming under attack. OK – I get annoyed that I only get certain live games on my Sky package but I could pay and get more. I was not a fan of borish Andy Gray & Richard Keys – but Chris Kamara is wonderful.  For me – that’s life.

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Nokia & Microsoft Alliance: Dream or nightmare?

It is alleged that a Google insider described the potential alliance between Microsoft and Nokia in less than glowing terms; “you can’t join two turkeys and make an eagle”. With Android growing at 800% in 2010 and Apple/iOs the darling of early adopters and innovation fans – Microsoft and Nokia have increasingly looked off the pace. As I’ve said consistently (and I’m only agreeing with what other partnership marketers have stated previously) – collaboration and alliances are going to be the future of marketing.

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In Praise of Marketing Craftwork

In an age of business schools and corporate marketing by rote (and people who never forget they’re clever) its interesting to see Godin mention the importance of craft. See the article below. One of my best ever bosses, who built an agency single handed always emphasised ‘craft’ over grand business academics and fancy marketing  titles. Quite simply – ‘what are you good at and what are you improving on every day’. She preached that each individual needed their own craft, a skill they could specialise in. Not waffle, but tactical nouse – not just vague strategic buzzword bingo but the ability to deliver things. Godin often talks about the ability ‘to ship’ not just dawdle.  Picasso was an artist, a thinker, a doer, who created and sold more than 30,000 pieces of art as he pioneered the new. Now that’s craft.

For more information, see Benchstone Marketing Limited

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/sethsmainblog/~3/xrFdy-NsB_s/the-new-craftsmanship.html

Digital Natives Are The Ultimate Disrupters

Digital Natives – those 12-25 year olds brought up on mobile, Facebook and YouTube. Always connected, always on. For them CD’s and DVD’s aren’t dad’s tech: iTunes is. Why pay for downloads when you can get free streaming music, movies and clips? In the article below it is pointed out this generation is changing the media industry (music is just the bellweather – all content rich media faces the same issues) – whether the industry wants it or not. I noted yesterday that there is now also a debate raging in the UK about football fans accessing live Premiership match coverage from various digital services from around the world – bypassing Sky’s service entirely. The digital natives are racing towards sharing free content access whilst the industry still invests millions in paying for the talent, the creative and the setups – and is finding it harder to make a buck. I believe in subscription models, passwords and platforms and I want to pay for my Plan B and my live footie. But there again – I’m not a digital native am I?

http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/2tESw1ZbbSE/

86% of Top Marketers Say Partnerships Are The Key To Innovation

Don’t take my word for it. After a comprehensive global study partnerships and collaborations have just been identified as the most important ingredient to successful marketing and innovation by one of the most powerful marketers on earth – Beth Comstock, CMO of General Electric.

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Brand Licensing – So What’s New?

An interesting piece on brand licensing but nothing really new here: Walt Disney first licensed the iconic Ingersol Mickey Mouse watch in the 1930’s. The areas that I find increasingly interesting is the development of brands x-platform. Computer games become movies, events become TV shows; sports brands become computer games. The kind of TV show – event brand extensions mentioned in this article are interesting. And for me strike a chord, as I proposed, pioneered and launched a 3-day live event based on a tv show back in 1995! It was one of my first introductions to marketing collaboration and inspired me to focus on marketing partnerships.

http://rss.mad.co.uk/c/359/f/4976/s/121c34ef/l/0L0Smad0O0CMain0CNews0CArticlex0C125d70A559ea74928ae1c9bc7aacc4b680CBrands0Egain0Eexposure0Eto0Euncharted0Echannels0Bhtml/story01.htm

Innovation – On The Edge of Danger

See below for a great piece by Kevin Kelly on the meaning of innovation which in his view has to be slightly on the edge of danger. This is tricky for marketers when they are under pressure for proven results, revenues, retention and profits. ( ” oh and be more creative too – you know, we should be more like errr, Apple or Google. OK?”). Interestingly Kelly does not expouse that innovation has to be huge leaps either – and seems to share in the belief of ‘exaptation’ (see my earlier post re Steven Johnson’s great book – ‘where good ideas come from’).

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/kklifestream/~3/ysZT9oDBZNw/in-a-poetic-sense-the-prime-go.php