Unless you are selling talking beer openers or donuts, comparing your product to Homer Simpson defies conventional wisdom. When your product is a slow-selling car, your actions are certain to leave people saying, “D’oh!”
Yet, this is exactly what Ford Motor CEO Alan Mulally did recently. He wasn’t subtle, in a public speech he projected an image of Homer over a picture of Ford’s Taurus sedan while being critical of the design and talking up future models as much better. We can be pretty sure that this will not rally sales of the Taurus over the coming months, so has Mulally gone mad or is he actually smart?
Tag Archives | High-Tech Case Studies
Winning Business Models: Innovation vs. Invention
Invention is the classic way to build a successful company. However, invention is much harder for a mature company or a mature technology. Business model innovation is an attractive option in many cases as a way to differentiate an offer, improve profitability or both. Below are five emerging business models.
Can We See More Green? HP’s Print 2.0
With their printing division bringing in 30% of HP’s $91.7 billion in revenue in 2006 – and more than half its operating profit – it’s easy to see why new printers and services are being rolled out to encourage printing. We’ve all known for years it’s the goose that lays the golden egg for HP.
Now the company is backing that contention with a $300 million ad campaign in which it introduces a slew of new printers and devices that allow users to print without the use of a PC. In partnership with Yahoo, HP has created a printing toolbar that makes creative projects easier, giving users how-to tips.
Week in Review: Spotlight on Key Ideas
Staying on top of some latest news, moves, thinking. Things worth paying attention to including FaceBook, Google, Landor Brand Study, & Amazon’s Strategy.
Okay, here’s a Statistic
So Bain has done a growth survey that shows “senior managers spend less than 3% of their time on the long term view of the future.” In comparison, the same study shows, they “spend 40% of their time focused on the things that go on in the 4 walls of the company”.
Marvel Story
Marvel Comics used to sell comic books. That was their business. They created comics, they sold them in the form of books. Then, one day, they realize that the real asset isn’t the publishing business. Which is what they had directly built. What they had indirectly built is characters that had stories. And those were assets.
Standing Apart: How a Blender Creates Affinity
The central goal of online marketing isn’t awareness, it’s engagement. And the five key tools to produce engagement are affinity, personality, community, co-creation, and advocacy. Engagement at the broadest level is getting the customer involved with your company, with your products and often, with your people. You want your customers to get to know your organization, its values and services. When customers like what they see and experience, the relationship deepens and it leads to affinity. Thus what was once a distant relationship becomes personal. Another way to same thing perhaps is to say that “Personality replaces traditional brand marketing”
The Nature of Things: Web Marketing
For each era, there are new rules. In the web world today, marketing online has new rules. Marketing is no longer about awareness online, but about creating an experience for the consumer or customer.
I propose the new marketing goal with online marketing is about engagement. Personal engagement. Connection from user to company. Customers like what you help them do. Your offerings are appealing and designed around and with them. Customers are delighted because they can exchange usages with one another and therefore find more ways to use your gadget. Joy of engagement brings them back again and again.
In a bar fight, what are you prepared to do?
Competition in the tech industry is a fundamental. Without it, we would never have seen the innovations and incredibly cool stuff that have informed, transformed, and improved our daily lives. Think about search and how much we use it to find anything, anytime. Or email tools that allow us to be connected and exchange ideas. [...]
The boxing match begins: Amazon, Google, and Paypal
This is one getting seats for: Reported here, but summarized with this starting point: Amazon, in its bid to become the underlying utility of the new web world, today confirmed what had been rumored earlier: a payment service that will compete with PayPal and to some extent, the nascent Google Checkout services. Just to be [...]