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    The New Newspaper…

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    The newspaper business is in trouble and therefore print journalism is in trouble. To compound the problem, David Carr of The New York Times today implies that some journalists are getting a bit lazy. Thanks to the Internet and easy access to data and sources, and ability to quickly search anything, he suggested journalists may not be leaving the building as they once did in pursuit of stories.  

     

    Ad revenue is down, circulation is down, college kids aren’t reading paper papers and the model needs to change. The news business is about reporting and distribution. Newspapers aren’t efficient because they deliver a lot of waste — stories we don’t read. Same with TV, but we can always change the channel. The net is somewhat better because we can focus our search, but the results are often citizen journalism which is hit and mostly miss. The solution lies in a system that allows us to select the type of professional news we want, from the journalists we prefer, delivered in the medium of our choice. What might that look like? Stay tuned.

     

     

     

    Twitter…Still a Fetus.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    Twitter is big today and will be bigger tomorrow. We just haven’t really figured out how to use it yet. This week and last there have been a number of stories about Twitter topping out. Even Ofrah (sic) is tired of Twitter. I don’t think anything could be farther from the truth.

     

    The Epicurious application on iPhone is a very cool app that lets you graze at the grocery store and when you see a wonderful product access great recipes for that product in real time. Twitter offers the same type of solution opportunity, but from live people. A number of computer start-ups were built not too long ago whereby people could pay for answers online.  The main problem with those services was many questions come up while away from the computer.  Pay-for solution providers for mobile consumers will be a cool new application and one for which Twitter seems a perfect medium. Cha-ching.

     

     

    Shanzhai Agencies.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    The “shanzhai” phenomenon in China — flooding the market with low-cost counterfeit mobile phones — is big business. In the U.S. we also have a shanzhai phenomenon but it’s tied to small and mid-size advertising and marketing agencies who pretend to be digital marketing experts.

     

    It usually starts with building a client website, then it extents to creating and placing display ads and email marketing. These shanhzai pretenders are going to school on unsuspecting marketers and it’s creating problems for everyone.

     

    Websites are built in Flash and are, therefore, not searchable. Emails are created that look like brochures with hundreds of words of copy. Online ads aren’t linked to landing pages and website navigation doesn’t come close to reflecting any standard of reasonable usability. The pretenders aren’t getting rich on this stuff either. It’s a disease.

     

    One way to make sure you don’t fall into this shanzhai digital trap is to check the shop’s website. Is it impressive? Logical? Does it load quickly? Does it excite? “Google” them and see if they show up. Do they have a blog? Check out their digital work and contact their digital clients. Ask if the people are on staff or freelance. Don’t buy counterfeit goods. Peace!

    Apple…Coolest Brand on the Planet.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    Apple’s App Store is the most successful store ever built. It’s exciting because it was built without hammer and nail, it’s only 9 months old, has 1 billion downloads, and is really just a drooling, cooing infant.  I remember posting 10 months ago that Facebook had better watch out for the App Store because all developers writing apps for Facebook (for free) were going to drop it like a bad habit in favor of the App Store, where they would be able to make some Benjamins.

     

    The App Store doesn’t have many employees — thank you software — and is the source of the most exciting innovation in all the world. If Apple isn’t the coolest brand on the planet, I don’t know what is. No sugar water here.  Peace!   

     

    Art Director Day

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    I’m shallow. I realized it yesterday after seeing a pretty, smiling, curvy lass in a clothing ad.  It stopped me dead.  I wondered to myself whether I would have stopped and read the ad had the model been plain. The answer was no, ergo shallow.  But later after being directed to a retail site selling hand bags, I was once again smitten. Smitten by a picture of bags: colorful, beautifully designed, magnetic. Apple profits just rose by 15% thanks to the iPhone. See any commonalities? I do. Beauty, art and design.

     

    What art directors know and many marketing people don’t, is that art and design sell. Make something pretty, design it brilliantly, don’t clutter it up, and people will pay attention. One of the problems with advertising and marketing today is the loss of art. I love strategy – the science of marketing – but without art marketing is lost.

     

    Today, the day after Earth Day, I’d like to suggest we all pay thanks to great art directors: the creators of style, design and visual beauty.  As we move farther into the digital age let’s not forget the art director, without whom marketing becomes just a bunch of digits (1s and 0s and fingers).  Still shallow? Yeah, probably. Peace!

     

     

     

     

    Brand Spanking

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    Some years ago I was doing focus groups in the tech sector trying to find a way to displace Cisco Systems the market share lion in corporate switches and routers. On the creative brief I referred these Cisco buyer panelists and their brethren as “market share hounds,” people who bought from the leader just because they were the leader. Something interesting happened in one group that got me thinking that people, by nature, need something to kvetch about. Even among the most committed market share hounds, there was dissatisfaction.

     

    Microsoft, also a market share leader at the time, had its fair share of detractors, and in other groups I would often hear the excitement in their voices as they piled on ther negatives. So I decided that for challenger brands, using research to spank the market leader was a good way to its soft underbelly. Brand spanking as a research methodology was born.

     

    Once you get people kvetching, the stories come out…and the insights fly. For challenger brands, funneling the discussion in a way that uncovers these anger provoking insights is a great way to identify leverage-able brand values. Spank away. Peace.

     

    Communications Integrators.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    Back in the day in the technology business, before we got smart and evolved, there was a group known as systems integrators. System integrators were an outside resource whose sole job was to help companies make all technology systems work together: software, hardware, and communications.  This interoperability void caused corporations to lose millions and spawned a whole new class of technology and services. There is an interesting corollary in the advertising and marketing business today as big marketers — defined as those with hundred million dollar budgets — are losing money thanks to silo’ed, out-of-harmony communications.  

     

    The advertising and marketing holding companies see the need for integration, but they can’t make it happen through all the the politics and revenue protection. The marketers see the need, but the job is too immense and not their competency.

     

    The marketing services business is at an inflection point…and it will change. First mid-size agencies will fill the void, thanks to their nimbleness and ability to orchestrate under one roof.  Then the holding companies will create their own systems integrator function (Saatchi is already playing here) but it will not work as the function will be viewed as are the “internal affairs” people in the police dept. So outside communications integrators will win the day. And that’s going to be too bad.  

    Offense and defense in social media.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    In social media today there is offense and defense. 

     

    Defense is what Domino’s did last week when two employees had a little fun at the brand’s expense. Defense is what a branded hand cream containing palm oil from denuded Indonesian forests does when called on the carpet. Though the brand will get some stink on in, this defense is played by corporate business leaders and PR professionals. It’s not brand work…it’s business work.  It needs to be handled quickly, succinctly and aggressively.  

     

    Offense, in social media, is about creating memorable sight, sound, and mind experiences which create predisposition to a sale.  These experiences and participations must surround strategic demonstrations of product superiority and value.  If online consumers don’t agree with your demonstrations, take the bullet and move on — at least you are forming the dialogue. Not everyone is going to like you and your product but with good brand management they will know who you are and for what you stand.

     

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