GRAY AREA
We’ll wade into the murky, gray areas of strategy, creativity, and how to bring your brand to life.
Chrome OS Pilot Program Nerdery
Yesterday I applied for the Chrome OS Pilot Program, so pardon me while I nerd out for a sec. The deal is, Google has somewhere between 1 and infinity custom-built Chrome OS laptops. They're calling them CR-48 (chromium, the element, has lots of isotopes. The Chrome...
I’m Sick of Clever
Rick Liebling just wrote an interesting piece about bringing real storytelling back to advertising. I've been thinking along the same lines. So many ads try to be clever-- and many succeed. But I'm sick of clever. Pardon me for a sec while I mix metaphors, but clever...
How To Do A Price Increase
Netfilx just raised their prices by 11%, and I'm glad they did. I had been subscribing to the 1 DVD at a time, Unlimited Streaming plan for $8.99 a month. I've also never used the DVD part of the service-- streaming-only (via Boxee and the Netflix iPhone app) for this...
2 Strategies To Exploit Second-Order Effects
I predict failure (compared to revenue from previous versions): Rock Band 3 uses "real" guitar and keyboard. Guitar Hero worked because it was just hard enough to appeal to everyone who always wished they'd learned guitar, as well as all the people who already knew...
3 Ways to Use Scarcity As A Strategy In A Digital World
The Internet changes everything. Also: water is wet, and Conan O'Brien is ridiculously tall. Seriously, if you haven't realized that yet, just go back to living in your cave. If your product can be turned into ones and zeroes, your existing business model doesn't work...
Pharmaceutical Marketing Strategies
Pharma companies often respond to an underlying *want* to create a *need*
Not My Job
How often do you hear this at your workplace: "Sorry, that's not my job." On the rare occasion I hear it, I always wish I'd recorded it. Then played a "not my job" compilation for some customers. And made the not-my-jobbers watch the customers' reactions....
A Tale of Two Strategies: Ping and Kindle Web
Ping is Apple's social network built on top of iTunes. iTunes, of course, is the biggest music store in the universe. Kindle for the Web is Amazon's latest addition to their market-dominating eBook reader line. Amazon sells lots of books. Both Ping and Kindle Web app...
The General and the Farmer
I read "The Secret Sauce: Growing a Company by Word of Mouth" over on Brains On Fire and it got me thinking about the idea of "strategy" more generally. Strategy is a military word. It's the "art of a general." The idea is to design a plan of action which results in...
How About We DO Something Amazing?
Ready to take your brand to the next level? Drop me a line and I'll get back to you ASAP. I promise not to ask too many questions.
