For years, the ipod has dominated as a fixture in media players and current music trend in the industry.
Ipod set the standard for what many have tried to emulate with their products, music formats, and online purchases. Microsoft has struggled to keep up with the popularity of the MAC operating system in conjunction with the iPod, and how they've declared all out war.
Microsoft made claims that it costs 30,000 dollars to fill a 30G ipod, where you can fill a ZUNE player with rented tunes for 15 dollars a month. However, the ad, from a marketing standpoint is seriously misguided.
The ad neglects the ZUNE player at the heart of their advertising ploy, and confuses consumers with it's message. Most consumers won't know that you cannot play zune tunes on an iPod, nor do they know where you can purchase Zune tunes, either.
Conflicting messages on the Microsoft Twitter blog also confuse followers and consumers. They've stated that they're not making an iPhone direct competitor, but their message differs from official statements. The question is - what do they want you to do?
What is the reaction supposed to be with their products?
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_50/b4112072232768.htm?chan=innovation_architecture_architectural+showcase
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Good Design
Many businesses are employing architects to create buildings that are practical, rather than over the top in recent years.
As some stated, Good Design is Good Business. Some recent designs were award winners, and were aesthetically rewarding, but regardless, served their purpose.
For example, for an office production company Haworth, the company had its original headquarters replaced with ones that reflected a home operating office.
The clear design served to demonstrate how their products functioned and served to compliment office spaces. Businessweek compiled a slideshow of innovative green and architectural design for major retailers that served to work for them, not against them.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_50/b4112072232768.htm?chan=innovation_architecture_architectural+showcase
As some stated, Good Design is Good Business. Some recent designs were award winners, and were aesthetically rewarding, but regardless, served their purpose.
For example, for an office production company Haworth, the company had its original headquarters replaced with ones that reflected a home operating office.
The clear design served to demonstrate how their products functioned and served to compliment office spaces. Businessweek compiled a slideshow of innovative green and architectural design for major retailers that served to work for them, not against them.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_50/b4112072232768.htm?chan=innovation_architecture_architectural+showcase
Ukraine's Polluted Republic
Fairly recently, a tire company in the country of Ukraine buried some of its smoking rubber tire parts in the ground and left them there. Over the course of the next few weeks, the stench lingered in the air and made it difficult to breath for many inhabitants of the city.
A protest was organized, but when the protestors made their case public, the company was slapped with a fine and that was that. However, the fine did little to ease the environmental degradation that had occured and their practices didn't change.
'"They constantly bring old tires for processing, and putrid smoke hangs above our city all the time," Igor Kolodyazhnyi, a resident Makiivka near the rubber factory, said. "The air smells like cinders and chemicals. Living in such circumstances is simply impossible."'
This is the same country whose residents were hurt and scarred by the deadly Chernobyl incident from the early 1990's. The business practice of being environmentally destructive has become commonplace as well - many are used to the release of these chemicals into the atmosphere.
Ukraine however has reached critical levels of action. Nikolai Kostrov has stated that contaminated water and other resources are facing critical levels.
"At this time the area of garbage dumps exceeds the area of preserved territories in Ukraine," he said. "In the capital Kyiv, the most critical situation can be found at the water purification station in Bortnichi [a city suburb]. All sewage waste in Kyiv heads there. Impurities could break through the dike and flow into the Dnieper River if the equipment isn't updated quickly," he said.
What's next for the country of Ukraine? Complacency is the status quo, but how long will that last if issues are not resolved?
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/apr2009/gb20090417_498939.htm?chan=innovation_architecture_top+stories
A protest was organized, but when the protestors made their case public, the company was slapped with a fine and that was that. However, the fine did little to ease the environmental degradation that had occured and their practices didn't change.
'"They constantly bring old tires for processing, and putrid smoke hangs above our city all the time," Igor Kolodyazhnyi, a resident Makiivka near the rubber factory, said. "The air smells like cinders and chemicals. Living in such circumstances is simply impossible."'
This is the same country whose residents were hurt and scarred by the deadly Chernobyl incident from the early 1990's. The business practice of being environmentally destructive has become commonplace as well - many are used to the release of these chemicals into the atmosphere.
Ukraine however has reached critical levels of action. Nikolai Kostrov has stated that contaminated water and other resources are facing critical levels.
"At this time the area of garbage dumps exceeds the area of preserved territories in Ukraine," he said. "In the capital Kyiv, the most critical situation can be found at the water purification station in Bortnichi [a city suburb]. All sewage waste in Kyiv heads there. Impurities could break through the dike and flow into the Dnieper River if the equipment isn't updated quickly," he said.
What's next for the country of Ukraine? Complacency is the status quo, but how long will that last if issues are not resolved?
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/apr2009/gb20090417_498939.htm?chan=innovation_architecture_top+stories
Green Streets
In NYC, the mayor, Michael Bloomberg, wants to give landlords and property owners the incentive to make their buildings more green in order to save money for everyone.
However, the landlords of these properties, would be shouldering the upgrades to make these changes. In a city where economic wealth and prosperity is defined by the square inches within which you're living, the costs for these changes would be dramatic and devastating to some.
In economic times such as these, there isn't that much money to go around for anyone. Most family and business are cutting costs and going the extra mile to ensure that this is the case.
The green trend has been very popular though, because of it's idea for a more secure and sustained future - an idea that sits well with most due to the financial insecurity that surrounds most people.
Bloomberg stated : "To soften the burden on landlords, they'd only be forced to bankroll changes that would pay for themselves over five years through reductions in energy use. The mayor says the plan will deliver $750 million in annual savings on utility bills, add thousands of new green jobs, and cut the city's greenhouse gas output by 5%."
The stimuation of the job market is very good for New York, whose businesses and offices were on somewhat of a hiring freeze.
Will the changes really happen for New York? Can it reverse the damage already done by poor administration and regulation from previous presidencies?
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_20/b4131046570857.htm?chan=innovation_architecture_top+stories
However, the landlords of these properties, would be shouldering the upgrades to make these changes. In a city where economic wealth and prosperity is defined by the square inches within which you're living, the costs for these changes would be dramatic and devastating to some.
In economic times such as these, there isn't that much money to go around for anyone. Most family and business are cutting costs and going the extra mile to ensure that this is the case.
The green trend has been very popular though, because of it's idea for a more secure and sustained future - an idea that sits well with most due to the financial insecurity that surrounds most people.
Bloomberg stated : "To soften the burden on landlords, they'd only be forced to bankroll changes that would pay for themselves over five years through reductions in energy use. The mayor says the plan will deliver $750 million in annual savings on utility bills, add thousands of new green jobs, and cut the city's greenhouse gas output by 5%."
The stimuation of the job market is very good for New York, whose businesses and offices were on somewhat of a hiring freeze.
Will the changes really happen for New York? Can it reverse the damage already done by poor administration and regulation from previous presidencies?
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_20/b4131046570857.htm?chan=innovation_architecture_top+stories
Death of Magazines?
The regular cover prices of the magazines are typical: you're used to paying about $3-5 on a magazine of your choice, and with that comes all of what you wanted.
Although most of what exists inside magazines these days is advertising. Content is few and far between. Most people buy the magazines to flip through the textless print ads to look at the looks and product offerings being pushed at them by large retailers.
A journalism professor at the University of Mississippi states :"We don't value our content anymore," Husni says. "It was a crime to sell a subscription to Portfolio for $12 a year."
"The chances of, say, a half-million subscribers going bankrupt and canceling subscriptions is far less than 50 major advertisers going bankrupt or cutting their ad budgets," he says.
"Print isn't dead; paper is a 400-year-old technology," he says. "There's nothing wrong with it. Come here, folks. Let's think. We can come up with some ideas."
In order to stimulate the sales of magazines maybe upping the prices to subscriptions and filling them with totally relevant content would stimulate consumer interest again.
Apron*ology, a startup magazine relevant to collectors of vintage aprons and vintage kitchen accessories hopes this strategy will prevail in a time where people aren't consuming that much extra in the first place. Will the strategy work? Is it possible that this would become a trend with most popular publications?
That remains to be seen in the coming months when bottoming out is supposed to start looking up.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/195449
Although most of what exists inside magazines these days is advertising. Content is few and far between. Most people buy the magazines to flip through the textless print ads to look at the looks and product offerings being pushed at them by large retailers.
A journalism professor at the University of Mississippi states :"We don't value our content anymore," Husni says. "It was a crime to sell a subscription to Portfolio for $12 a year."
"The chances of, say, a half-million subscribers going bankrupt and canceling subscriptions is far less than 50 major advertisers going bankrupt or cutting their ad budgets," he says.
"Print isn't dead; paper is a 400-year-old technology," he says. "There's nothing wrong with it. Come here, folks. Let's think. We can come up with some ideas."
In order to stimulate the sales of magazines maybe upping the prices to subscriptions and filling them with totally relevant content would stimulate consumer interest again.
Apron*ology, a startup magazine relevant to collectors of vintage aprons and vintage kitchen accessories hopes this strategy will prevail in a time where people aren't consuming that much extra in the first place. Will the strategy work? Is it possible that this would become a trend with most popular publications?
That remains to be seen in the coming months when bottoming out is supposed to start looking up.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/195449
Lost Faith
Many entrepreneurs are not so optimistic about the current state of the economy. They have reason to feel this way.
Many small businesses are feeling the hurt more than anything. In the Newsweek article cited,
the author speaks with an owner of a small promotional products business. He states that while Ben Bernanke seems to think the bottoming out period is ending, another is on the way.
"I can't see any reason why they'd come back soon," the man states about some of his clients. And why would they? At this time in American business, many retailers or businesses in general cannot afford to pay extra for promotional expenses. Often in business, when times are tough, marketing depts are the first places they make the cut. Advertising just gets too expensive. Corporate entities want to rely on customer loyalty to support their waning business.
The question is, when all you have is the one business you've built, what happens when your niche market can no longer afford to support you? Who fronts the bill? Where do you go in the end?
http://www.newsweek.com/id/196007/page/1
Many small businesses are feeling the hurt more than anything. In the Newsweek article cited,
the author speaks with an owner of a small promotional products business. He states that while Ben Bernanke seems to think the bottoming out period is ending, another is on the way.
"I can't see any reason why they'd come back soon," the man states about some of his clients. And why would they? At this time in American business, many retailers or businesses in general cannot afford to pay extra for promotional expenses. Often in business, when times are tough, marketing depts are the first places they make the cut. Advertising just gets too expensive. Corporate entities want to rely on customer loyalty to support their waning business.
The question is, when all you have is the one business you've built, what happens when your niche market can no longer afford to support you? Who fronts the bill? Where do you go in the end?
http://www.newsweek.com/id/196007/page/1
Friday, February 6, 2009
Brand Nepotism
Over the years, you know what brands you consume more than most.
Often, you choose the car companies your parents praised, you enjoy the clothes you've enjoyed for years, and often you buy because of quality, not just quantity. So what do you do when you hear of other brands in trouble? That probably indicated to you that those brands are trouble.
When GM reported its dire standings and it's lookout for potential buyers, consumers avoided them like the plague. People stopped buying them, period. Some would ponder why this is.
My guess would be, poor numbers indicate a lack of buying interest for a few select reasons:
1) My first assumption would tell me that if consumers aren't buying a certain product, it's because it's not quality. Now, the exception would have to be Volvo under the umbrella of GM, but that could be because of a high Price Point in a market where it's hard to sell someone a pair of shoes.
2) I would then assume that people are buying for the long term. American cars have a reputation of not sustaining as well over time as Japanese and German cars, so this could be another avenue.
Either way, what kind of branding strategy would then have to follow all this bad luck to come out on top? Would superhuman brand positioning be the next avenue that you'd have pull off? Would re-positioning even work?
Who Knows?
www.businessweek.com
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