SvN – Case Study in Progress

Posted on by under Business Blogs

The guys over at Signal Vs. Noise have changed their RSS feed and are now including advertisements with posts. They are testing a new service offered by Feedburner.

This is the post that announced the change and the response has been fast and furious. Some have been supportive saying things like “It was bound to happen.” I think there is a very vocal contingent who is very upset and disappointed with the change. While everyone expected ad-supported feeds to be a progression, I don’t they expected SvN to be at the forefront as a beta tester. I think many thought you would never see something like this on SvN.

From the responses by SvN, they seem to be digging their heels in. They feel they can do what they want.

This is a perfect example of how customers are the ones who own the perception of a company. People have a vision of what SvN is. Ads in feeds doesn’t seems to match well with that customer-held perception. Do something that doesn’t match that perception and you run a great risk of alienating some of your greatest supporters.

I am waiting to see what happens next…case study in progress…

This is getting closer

Posted on by under Marketing, Open Source

I have read the article Open Source Marketing from Hans Peter Brondmo at clickz a couple times as people have been linking to it. It took James at the Modern Marketing Blog to pull out the best part and for me to finally notice it.

Open-source marketing encourages openness and discussion, facilitates debate and idea sharing. It encourages free downloads of the finished ad and the “source code” — all the storyboards, video clips, raw animation, text copy, sound files, and other components — used to construct the advertisement. Open-source marketing enlists the audience to take a message, an image, or a jingle and “improve” it by creating derivative works. It encourages consumers to not just consume and critique, but to engage, improve, and redistribute improvements if the original doesn’t work or measure up.

This is getting closer to the definition of what I think open source marketing is.

Advertising is Dead?

Posted on by under Advertising

It has been a long time since the Daily Picks on My Yahoo! page dished out something interesting for me.

This morning they delivered me IHAVEANIDEA.

Founder Ignacio Oreamuno says:

They say all revolutions are started by dreamers.

If this is true, “I Have An Idea” is one long dream. We vow not to rest until we make drastic and constructive changes in the advertising industry. Why? Because the advertising industry we want to work for doesn’t yet exist.

Good starting point.

…Keeps on Going and Going

Posted on by under Uncategorized

Today Fanball.com had a great quote about Brett Favre:

Favre suffered a sprained thumb on his throwing hand in the Pack’s October 31 win over the Redskins. Seeing as he hasn’t missed a game since people were shorter and lived closer to water, we fully expect Favre to be in the lineup with the Pack hosts the Vikings Sunday with first place in the NFC Norris on the line.

He has played 197 consecutive games now. This post puts it in perspective:

Since Brett Favre launched his [197] starting streak Sept. 27, 1992, people have moved from cassettes to CDs and 1 billion people went “on-line.” The streak has encompassed the rise and fall of Martha Stewart, Beanie Babies, Ross Perot, Celine Dion and Y2K. Over the last 12-plus years, The Bridges of Madison County, The Client and Cold Mountain have gone from the best-seller list to the big screen to the video rental store. And, sandwiched within the streak are the O.J. Simpson trial, the first and last episodes of NBC’s hit series Friends and Bill Clinton’s two terms in office.

-In fact, [November 2nd marked] the fourth time during Favre’s streak Americans have gone to the polls to vote for President. Clinton defeated George Bush (1992), won a second term over Bob Dole and Ross Perot (1996), and George W. Bush beat Al Gore (2000).

Whole Lotta Money

Posted on by under Business Media, Public Relations

Today’s news seemed to be dominated by dollar signs.

I am all for capitalism, but this seems to show it is all about the money. The companies producing these products have found the traditional media more than happy to report the hype. The trouble is it does nothing to represent the products. People aren’t saying “Wow they made $99 zillion dollars. I need to go buy that.” People aren’t telling there friends that either. They are buying them because they are great experiences and that what they are talking to their friends about.

Note to Pixar

Posted on by under Marketing, Personal

Dear Brad, John , and Steve,

I went with my wife to see The Incredibles last night. You have created another masterpiece. The story, the characters, and the animation were all (forgive the pun) incredible. I wouldn’t even know where to start in telling you how much I enjoyed the movie.

About halfway through the movie, I started remembered all those SBC commercials I have been seeing with the Parr family. I decided I don’t want to see Bob, Helen, Violet, Dashiell, and Jack pushing product. Let them be the superhero family I loved in the movie. Don’t make the mistake of attaching all this extra mental baggage through “extending the brand”. Do you really need another revenue source for a film that is probably going to gross half a billion dollars?

Let stories be stories.

Sincerely,

Todd Sattersten

Why I Left

Posted on by under Personal

Fortune has a special section on Innovation in the November 15 issue.

Bill Joy describes [sub. needed] succinctly why I left GE:

So why is innovation so hard for big companies? The main reason is that innovative people tend to prefer working in smaller organizations that have more focus and less bureaucracy. Even in small companies, adopting a large-company style can frustrate the innovators.

The problem with large companies isn’t that they fail to do large and seemingly ambitious projects; it’s that they fail to do small, quirky, controversial projects—truly innovative projects that wouldn’t be accepted by the organization at large but that have the potential to grow. (If everyone thinks an idea is okay, how can it be innovative?) A large organization—its missions threatened by new ideas—is often incredibly hostile to its own innovators; the antibodies to change are strong.

During my last years at GE, I was unconsciously trying to find small groups to work in. I found them more exciting. I found they had less overhead (i.e. less managerial interference, less politics, less PowerPoint presentations). I found I could be more creative and get more done. The last group I worked in had 6 people in it when I started. The product caught shortly after I got there and grew to about 70 in less than six months. I spent another 12 months there and finally decided to left GE. It was getting hard to find small places.

I spent two years working with my dad in a four person fabrication shop. I started enjoying myself again. We had lots of everything except money. We tried all sorts of things. It was fun.

I find the work I am doing with 800-CEO-READ to be the same. We are trying new things all the time. Some work and some don’t. Jack says throw it at the wall and we’ll see what sticks.

Innovation is about trying and you have to be given the opportunity to do some trying.