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07.22.08Premium Means You Should Envy Them
Brands and MarketingMy last post talked about Rene Girard and the concept of mimetic desire. I want to continue with some additional thoughts… Premium products are often marketed via some aesthetic base, often using visual cues (logos, design, premium materials, etc) to make others consumers ‘envious’ to the point that they feel they must have it too. The value is obvious to all who see it. It seems most web services forget that making other users ‘envious’ of the premium features they could have is a necessary step to monetization. For example, the reason that car models change design ever year or two is ...
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07.16.08The Long Tail and Mimetic Desire
Brands and MarketingI’m a big fan of both Chris Anderson and Peter Thiel. Recently I have been reading a number of reports and articles contradicting the thesis behind the Long Tail, a concept coined by Anderson in 2004. The Long Tail describes a niche strategy of businesses that sell a large number of unique items in relatively small quantities -- primarily using the internet as the platform for sales. Examples are Amazon.com and Netflix. However, new research from the Harvard Business Review demonstrates that the revolution in Long Tail sales described in Anderson’s book has not happened and the article begins to ...
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07.14.08The Price Is Right but the Process is Wrong
Social MediaI have been thinking a lot about the role of price points in web 2.0. Much of the ‘bubble’ we hear about stems from the reluctance of those utilizing products to pay for them. It’s not even that there is a reluctance to pay something – there is a reluctance to pay anything at all. Wired Magazine recently featured a cover story anointing this the free economy. However I believe that the reluctance of consumers to pay for online applications points to much deeper concerns than simply price alone. Intuitively it makes no sense to me that someone wouldn’t pay ...
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07.09.08What’s Up with the False Advertising?
Brands and Marketing, Venture CapitalUpdate 1: I was contacted by the CEO of WrapMail who gave me a demo of his product. WrapMail's choice of wording may be poor but it is not false advertising. I offered to write a post summarizing the service and will link to it once it's ready to ship. I ran into two falsely advertised products today. While I was initially excited about both, now that I understand that I cannot use the services in the manner they claimed they have lost me as a potential customer. I wonder how many potential customers were also lost by this messaging stupidity? No ...
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06.15.08Get Your Viral On
Brands and MarketingSo you want to make your product or company go viral. The first thing to know is you don’t choose viral; viral chooses you. The best you can do as a marketer is position something to have viral potential. This is accomplished by positioning your product in three ways: Psychological Undercurrent Social Value Proposition Maneuverability Psychological Undercurrent. Sounds almost military, doesn’t it? That’s because it is. Psyops and captology relate to the art of influence. If you want something to become viral you need to appeal to that which is cool, unique, novel, sexy, exclusive or shocking. These are the things that make an ...
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06.11.08Real-World Value Litmus Test for Startups
Brands and MarketingMaybe it’s because I studied a decent amount of economics in school, but I think the first step in marketing anything on a large scale is to know the economic conditions and trends you’re selling into. The best products will address gaps and problems being actively discussed on the public record. While a valuable product will sell regardless of economic conditions, strategic positioning can still be influenced by astute economic observations. The best place to get a quick overview of macro trends and conditions is by paying attention to quality newspapers. As an example, here are paraphrased quotes lifted ...
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04.04.08Target the Wanna Be’s
Brands and MarketingIt struck me today that the many of the most successful business models on the web are targeted at the wanna-be’s. Consider, the success of Urban Daddy or aSmallWorld. Are these services really being used by the elite? Hardly. The elite are on a network you and I have never heard of -- if they are on one at all. Wanna-be’s on the other hand, have aspirations. They seek conduits providing them with potential. It’s the 90% striving to be the 10%. Targeting the wanna-be’s is also largely industry neutral; whether a huge client like Disney, or brushing shoulders with the ...
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03.26.08What Schwag Has the Best ROI?
Brands and MarketingAll startups seem to feel an obligatory pressure to produce schwag: T-shirts, stickers, pens, etc. My question is what schwag has the best ROI and why?
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03.24.08The Resurrection of Starbucks
Brands and MarketingIt’s been a while since I wrote about brand reputation optimization, a term I coined last year. However, Starbucks has recently been facing a storm of controversy and I believe how it is handling the adversity is well worth paying attention to. Not too long ago as I sat in a Starbucks already annoyed at having to pay $9.95 for wifi, a barista awkwardly approached me – clearly something was up. “Sir, all Starbucks will be closing early tonight. We are having a major training session among all locations worldwide.” The events of that ‘training session’ have been chronicled on many blogs. While ...
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03.20.08Stupid Rich Kids Who Aren’t So Stupid. Personal Branding 101
Brands and MarketingMy sisters used to be big fans of the reality TV shows, Laguana Beach and The Hills: translation, I have seen many an episode myself. If you’ve seen The Hills, you know the names Brody and Spencer. You also most likely think that they are the quintessential womanizing schmucks. A couple of faux rich kids who probably have difficulty calculating the tip on the $300 a plate LA dinner they charge to the parents’ Amex. But, you’re wrong -- at least in part. At SXSW I stood in for a bit on the Personal Branding session and honestly was not ...
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recent posts
- Premium Means You Should Envy Them
- Teaching Dad About the Internet Circa 1994
- The Turning Girl IQ Test
- The Long Tail and Mimetic Desire
- The Price Is Right but the Process is Wrong
- Can You Afford Not to Be Funny?
- Techcrunch Forums Hit DeadPool
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