The Strategy Review

Leadership in Media program with IESE

We're delighted to announce, further to time spent together at the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, that Prof Paddy Miller of IESE, the top business school in world (FT, Economist etc) has invited Rights Marketing to assist with the development and delivery of the new Leadership in Media MBA program (NY) and the media component of the core MBA program (Barcelona).

We're beginning the development process on this today, for launch in both NYC and Barcelona in the fall. A priviledge and a pleasure.

Back from "Inside India" ...

.... after an AMAZING week in Mumbai and Hyderabad with top business school IESE and the marvellous Indian School of Business. I'll be podcasting on this with Jonathan Lakin my co-founder in Rights Marketing in the next few days, but high points included:

• Flying into Mumbai to see the incredible sprawl that is the city.


• Meeting the IESE and ISB teams and working with them for a week of deep learning and many laughs.


• Visiting with India's hottest companies - Infosys, Tata Group and many more


• Lectures from some of the brightest minds in Indian commerce and culture.


• Cab rides with lepers banging on the window at traffic lights - makes New York seem ... suburban.


• The glorious quality and range of India's quality newspapers, in particular The Times of India.

So ... back in the blog saddle and normal service to be resumed.

Important post from Umair on edge competencies

Quoted in full.

Watch reconstruction happen in real-time: Digg Spy.

A viscerally powerful demonstration of value shifting to the edge: in this case, outside the boundaries of the firm itself.

A viscerally powerful demonstration of the most important concepts behind 2.0 strategy, and why they fundamentally upend the orthodoxies of 1.0 strategy: without understanding why openness, sharing, transparency, and zero intelligence, are deep sources of economic value creation - not just fuzzy, feelgood notions - Digg Spy, or reconstructors like it, couldn't even be conceptualized.

Finally, a viscerally powerful demonstration of strategy decay and competence traps - why the media industry is unable to leverage these new economics to build edge competencies: because the assumptions that must be overturned are deeply embedded in their core businesses, strategies - and ways of making of the world.

This is an important post; if you're a regular reader, I hope you'll click over, check the link for a while, watch it evolve, then come back here and re-read the post.

RSS turns ad models around

Interesting short piece from BusinessWeek:

It appears that the people who visit a site through a search engine or a link are a different bunch than those who subscribe through an RSS feed. The people who go to the site through a browser might be shopping around for a wireless device so they would respond to an ad for wireless gadgets. But someone who subscribes a feed already has a BlackBerry and the gear that goes with it. An ad encouraging them to buy a BlackBerry or even to dump the device for a Treo wouldn't work.

White House hails new energy sources ... supports failing ad industry

New Scientist on those Superbowl ads ...

Brain scans of Super bowl viewers suggest that certain commercials more effectively excite the brain’s empathy and reward centres, making them "light up".

Now, if we can just make the ads more interesting than watching paint dry, we're home!

Yeah .... what he said!

Remarkably direct editorial from NYT. Good to see.

We can't think of a president who has gone to the American people more often than George W. Bush has to ask them to forget about things like democracy, judicial process and the balance of powers — and just trust him. We also can't think of a president who has deserved that trust less.

RFID injections ...

... both cool and scary.

Two employees have been injected with RFID chips this week as part of a new requirement to access their company's datacenter.

This is not real ...

... but it could be tomorrow :-)

In an UnNews exclusive interview today the current CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America, Mitch "Litigious Bastard" Bainwol, discussed the analog hole, and the recent controversy surrounding it.

Attentioneering #9

Michael and Umair Haque of Bubble Generation examine the state of play and strategic implications of Media 2.0 in the first of a series of podcasts.

Something to smile at - a London Underground mashup

To be found here ... but where can I buy one? :-)

Idol kicks butt on Grandmas ... I'm sorry - Grammy's

From the beeb ...

American Idol got nearly twice as many viewers as the televised Grammys ceremony when they clashed on US TV, audience figures have shown.

Talent show Idol, the most watched US TV programme, was seen by 28m viewers when it went head to head with the annual awards event.

A delicate little note from AdRants re new PVR-avoidant ads from NBC and Goodyear ...

This is ... well put:

We turn the page, you add an insert. We ban billboards from our state, you fly banners over our beaches. We hang up on your telemarketing, you call back with answer machine message leaving auto-bots. We install an email spam filter, you send spam to weblog comments and trackbacks. We stop reading comment-spammed blogs, you launch spam blogs whose sole purpose is to peddle your crap. We block your pop ups, you fuck with technology to serve them anyway. We stop watching TV to spend more time with online gaming, you plaster our games with advertising. We skip our ads with our DVR, you plaster commercial graphics all over the screen during programming. We become immune to advertising, you launch a hoard of buzz marketers on our ass.

Proliferating this madness or simply launching the inevitable next sorte against the ad-skipping public, Goodyear, in a DVR-proof advertising deal with NBC, will morph its actual blimp into animated versions of the blimp, floating it across the screen during Olympic programming to deliver commercial messaging promoting the company's TripleTred and SilentArmor tire technology. Surely, now, the time is undoubtedly ripe now for an enterprising company to develop a DVR-embedded technology which will swipe anything but actual programming from the screen just as several online ad blocking technologies now do on the web.

While this new advertising endeavor may be met with skepticism and repulsion, advertising, after all, does make the free world go 'round. We may hate it but without it, we'd be looking at a pay per view world with monthly cable TV bills upwards of $500. Oh, excuse me, we have to go. The people from Hooters are here to paint a gigantic pair of Hooters-branded breasts on our driveway so as to reap the benefits of Google Maps.

Key folks getting into the Media 2.0 Workgroup

Very pleased to welcome Richard MacManus and Noah Brier to our happy band as of today.

Attentioneering #8

Michael looks at the appalling Superbowl 2006 ads, the huge success of the Arctic Monkeys and the honesty of their fans (RIAA take note ...), the state of play with the Media 2.0 Workgroup, and reads the latest 'Bayler on the Future' piece from New Media Age.


MP3 File

Rubbish Superbowl ads ...

... say no more.

Nice note from Todd Sampson

Cheers to Todd for this very warm (and wise!) note ...

I have really been enjoying Michael Bayler's Attentioneering Podcast (xml) and his related Rights Marketing Company Blog lately.  He gives a more business focused take on the subject of attention compared to the majority of those discussing the topic online.

Michael, if you read this, one really small comment.  The frequent use of the word "exploitation" could scare the crap out of some people - especially those new to attention.  Many people view the word as "utilization of another person or group for selfish purposes (American Heritage Dictionary)" or worse "an act that exploits or victimizes someone (WordNet)."

Keep up the good work.

Leadership in Media #1

Michael and Tim Clark, music industry figure and head of the Robbie Williams management team, discuss the future of music.

MP3 File

Bebop finds gig listings from your iTunes list

Great little idea this - check it out.

Talent, that's the word ...

Wallace and Gromit awards = good news:

Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the WereRabbit has dominated Hollywood's annual animation awards, the Annies, winning nine prizes.

The British-made film was named best animated feature, beating fellow Oscar contenders Corpse Bride and Howl's Moving Castle to the top prize.

Jim Stengel, P and G Global CMO, on Advertising 2.0

Despite what I'm afraid is a pretty crap online service, ft.com, especially compared to wsj.com, the FT Weekend print edition published on Saturdays is a gem. And this weekend they devoted several pages to profiling the marketing man with not only THE PLAN, but with a $6bn annual budget to deliver it with. Here are some clips to capture the flavour:

'Stengel took it upon himself (in late 2003) to give the marketing services industry a grade of C-minus - just above failure. "If this was one of my teenager's report cards, we would be having a heart to heart talk - more homework, less socialising, more tutoring, more commitment to improve!" he said.'

'As recently as the 1980's, with only 2 commercial channels in the UK, P & G reckoned it could reach 90% of consumers with just 3 TV commercials. Now it would take more than 1,000 for the same impact.'

'"We must accept the fact that there is no 'mass' in 'mass media' anymore."'

... and loads more in the same vein. I love it when the folks with money a) show the balls to change the game and b) are so clear about their philosophy.

Spirit of 2.0 - the mashup

This from Dion Hinchcliffe expains a lot if you're looking to understand the spirit of Web 2.0:

2.63 new mashups a day.  That's what John Musser's terrific new Mashup Feed site says is current the creation rate.  If that rate flattens out today, which isn't likely, that's over 960 new mashups every year.  Mashups, composite web applications partially constructed from the services and content from other web sites, are taking off with an amazing speed.  Yet they are a relatively new phenomenon in terms of being this widespread and pervasive.  All this even though mashups, like blogs and wikis, were actually possible from the creation date of the first forms-capable browser.  So why the sudden widespread interest?

iTunes media and brand preference profiles

This from Centre for Media Research is really interesting ...

Nielsen//NetRatings recently announced that traffic to Apple's iTunes Web site and use of the iTunes application has skyrocketed 241 percent over the past year, from 6.1 million unique visitors in December 2004 to 20.7 million in December 2005, reaching nearly14 percent of the active Internet population.

17 year olds  are nearly twice as likely to visit the iTunes Web site and use the application as the average Internet user. The site's traffic is 54 percent male and 46 percent female.

That Madonna ...

... her latest cool move is to collaborate with The Gorillaz for a live piece at the Grammys. Whatagal. Too tired to link (t-shirt opportunity?)

A really nice note of support from Noah Brier

Coming back from the day of doom (don't ask ...) very cool and rare pleasure to get this comment from Noah on the Media 2.0 Workgroup mandate draft that I put up recently:

Since he first commented on my blog a few months ago, I've been keeping up with Michael Bayler over at The Rights Marketing Company blog. His Draft mandate for the Media 2.0 Workgroup is a well-written state of the media piece. It goes into unbundled, attention and every other hot-button media topic that you can think of in an incredibly approachable way. Lots of great thought fodder in there, especially relevant to me was this quote: "Simply put, advertising needs to move from ‘interruption of experience’ to ‘enhancement of experience’. An unprecedented cultural, strategic and creative challenge."

Old media never die ...

... except this one ... Western Union abruptly ceases telegram services:

Effective January 27, 2006, Western Union will discontinue all Telegram and Commercial Messaging services. We regret any inconvenience this may cause you, and we thank you for your loyal patronage.

Google-Napster tie up - thinking about it ...

From The Deal:

According to a New York Post report, Google Inc. is in talks with Napster to either buy the online music service outright, or form some sort of partnership to offer a Google music service. Let's ignore that both sides have denied the rumors for a second and take a look at what this could mean.

Warners into P2P

Surely a smart move:

The firm will sell movies and TV shows over the internet in Germany, Austria and Switzerland from March. Its In2Movies service will use the same file-sharing technology that has led to an increase in movie piracy. Warner Bros did not reveal price details but said it planned to widen its international use of P2P networks.

New Mark Burnett reality show for AOL

This is interesting from MediaPost:

AMERICA ONLINE AND MARK BURNETT Productions on Monday announced plans to co-develop and produce an online reality treasure chase show. Dubbed "Gold Rush!," the program will track the progress of contestants as they cross the country searching for buried booty. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Attentioneering #7

Michael and John Ingham begin a series of "State of the Nation" discussions on the digital music marketplace.

MP3 File

A London Transport moment ...

.... not the usual kind, where rage, frustration and bewilderment send me home shattered and fixed in fight, flight or weep mode ... no ....

I was wearily gazing at the (new) plasma on-bus TV on the Number 18 to Chalk Farm this morning when I noticed a "25% off sale" ad for an Apple vendor, which caught my attention momentarily. What woke me up (activated my P300 waves ...) was the fact the the store was right on (or very close to ...) the route of the 18 bus. Contextual, behavioural? Interesting.