IPhone Blues July 3, 2007
Posted by mikesolomon in Mac.2 comments
Yup – i got the Iphone blues baaaadd!! Why? – because i cant have one that’s why. I have to settle for looking at pics of smiling Americans getting their grubby paws on it.
You see im an Apple nut and the fact that I have to wait an undetermined amount of time to get my hands on the hottest gadget of the decade just kills me. Maybe its a blessing in disguise because when they (eventually) land here, they will probably have 3G, MMS and be able to record video.
Still that scant consolation to me! Damn you Apple, why couldn’t you just sell and unlocked phone instead of wanting a slice of the call revenue pie. Or is it Steve Jobs cunning plan to extend revenues in a rapidly approaching iPod saturated market.
That begs the question for SA and other countries: Will Apple do the same as the USA and partner with a carrier? or will they settle for selling crap loads and making a fortune on the actual units? I guess time (how much we don’t know) will tell!
Batman Marketing June 9, 2007
Posted by mikesolomon in Different Advertising, Sites.add a comment
I’m always on the look for new marketing techniques that break the mould, and this one from Warner Brothers does just that.
WB has launched a viral campaign for the new Batman movie due out next year ( i cant wait to see it)
Seems they launched a site with nothing but a pic of the new bat logo. When you click on the logo, you are then redirected to another site called I believe in Harvey Dent. This site features an election banner for Harvey Dent. Nothing special here, but then it gets interesting.
That site goes to another site with the same poster but its been defaced by you know who (the Joker if you dont know who) However one can (or could) interact with the site and by giving an email address, get co ordinates of a pixel to remove.
Once all the pixels were removed, it revealed a pic of Heath Ledgers Joker. Very cool. Now WB have got a huge database to keep contacting and drum up even more hype about the flick!!!
See all the pics here
The TV Killer? May 22, 2007
Posted by mikesolomon in Different Advertising, Sites, The Web, Uncategorized.1 comment so far
I signed up to check out Joost, the new internet tv streaming programme from the heavyweight founders of Kazaa and Skype.
Essentially, Joost is being touted as tv on your internet and boy is it good. They’ve worked hard on their streaming capabilities and they are pretty much the best ive seen. I was watching on a 3g datacard with true speed of 1.8mbps and it looked great. I can only image what a 4gig fixed line would deliver. ( or even higher speed like they have overseas)
Unfortunately there isnt much to watch at the moment, but im sure as they get going, more and more networks will jump on board. Joost is ad sponsored and free to the end consumers (as long as they look at a few ads) I was exposed to a Nike ad for a product that you cant get here, so theres a bit of
wastage there. I also saw it twice and was a bit annoyed, but im sure they will fix that going forward.
I only hope they dont block shows by region i.e. only show Lost in the US etc.
In short, if all web tv looks this good, I seriously see trouble in TV’s future.
The SA Ad industry SERIOUSLY confuses me May 10, 2007
Posted by mikesolomon in The Media Landscape, Thoughts.3 comments
I really don’t want this blog to become a huge rant about industries that cant see the future even when its beating them in the face, but this is just too much!
Last night I went to an AMASA presentation that promised to highlight the much touted “Death of the 30″ commercial” debate due to PVR.
Now this is the first AMASA presentation i have ever bothered to attend, and i was rubbing my hands in glee with advent of seeing high flying as execs bemoaning the death of their beloved 30″
Anyway, its turns out that the speaker has proven through his research, that “PVR is a positive development for television advertising noting levels. He argues that fast-forwarding on a PVR to avoid advertising, will mean more attention to advertising, compared to a lower viewer involvement that normal television advertising commands” Hes basically saying that people are forced to watch the ads being fast forwarded because they have to see when the show is starting.
The bottom line of his speech was – (in my words) Don’t worry ad people – PVR wont hurt the 30″ ad and everything will be fine! Keep up the good work (someone actually shouted out “long live the 30″ ad” – like this was a political rally – WTF? )
The researcher, Erik Du Plessis (a chap in his late 50’s) also managed to pass over the rise internet and mobile marketing as mediums and dismissed them with the wave if his hand (he doesn’t understand them therefore there’s no possible way in hell any one else will!!- what utter crap)
Im basically dumbfounded. Sure maybe the PVR wont kill the 30″, but a lot of other stuff will and these people don’t even realise it. When, oh when will this industry wake up?!?!?
The Movie industry is odd May 9, 2007
Posted by mikesolomon in Thoughts, Uncategorized.1 comment so far
The movie industry confuses me! Here why. About a month ago I was invited to what they call a junket where the newest releases for the year are shown. Nothing odd there.
However we did have to hand in our cellphones as we were going to be shown “top secret” footage!!
Now there seemed to be much paranoia and fear about showing this footage and having someone copy it on a poor quality device that probably couldn’t even see the screen in focus from the back of the cinema! Anyway this footage turned out to be a 9 minute preview of the new Pixar animated film called Ratatouille. Thrilling stuff i assure you!
Anyway i now see that Pixar have released the very same 9 mins of footage on the web via Apple trailers!
So my question is this – why all the fuss? Let people leak 9 mins of footage – hell it made me want to see the film. Why are these people so paranoid about 9 minutes of footage being leaked? It time for them to embrace the web as medium? Hell people arent going to cinema anyways – isnt it time to find new ways of advertising movies? But what do i know 
Music industry still doesnt get it! April 19, 2007
Posted by mikesolomon in Sites.1 comment so far
Yup they are still stuck in the dark ages!
Well at according to this site called Ars Technica (?) reports on the latest figures of cd sales compared to downloads, and im sure you can guess who’s winning.
When will the music industry realise its doomed unless it wakes up!
Its just a pity local download sites like pick n play and musica are a)crap and b) more expensive than buying a damn cd.
Ah well one day!
Nine Inch Nails – the best music marketers in the world? April 12, 2007
Posted by mikesolomon in Different Advertising, Sites, The Media Landscape.2 comments
NIN seem to be on the cutting edge of “new marketing” – even more so than the record companies (surprise surprise).
In an apparent attempt to “go into battle with the people whose job it is to figure out how to sell the record” i.e. the much loved record companies, the bands frontman Trent Reznor devised his own marketing campaign for the upcoming album Year Zero. In true Reznor madness genius his campaign includes gems like:
- leaking tracks on the internet by leaving them on usb sticks in bathrooms of concerts.To quote the man him self “The USB drive was simply a mechanism of leaking the music and data we wanted out there. The medium of the CD is outdated and irrelevant. It’s really painfully obvious what people want – DRM-free music they can do what they want with. If the greedy record industry would embrace that concept I truly think people would pay for music and consume more of it.“
- designing an “alternate reality game”for the album
- registering a whole bunch of domain names, and leaving clues to the sites in various NIN tour t shirts
- deliberately leaking tracks to radio stations for them to play
- streaming the entire album from their myspace page
For a full NIN “Campaign” breakdown – check here and here
All I can say is WOW – Trent has essentially made a user generated marketing campaign and is almost giving his music away. As for the actual mechanics and content of his camping – only he could explain it relevance. However in saying this – it works and is something totally new and unique. Now if only the record companies would wake up and realise that this is what the people want.
BTW – their official site recommends Safari and Firefox to view the site – how cool!
The Pulse of Marketing April 4, 2007
Posted by mikesolomon in Sites, The Media Landscape, Web 2.0.add a comment
Or lack thereof – Business Week points to an article about the Future of Marketing whereby marketers and advertisers are asked to complete a survey about their future marketing plans. Apparently this is done around an award called the “Effies” which is given to the best ad campaign in America or some crap like that. The survey is completed by 121 “influential” advertisers and brand companies.
A lovely slide show of the results can be seen here.
Some interesting but confusing facts came out like 42.4% saying TV spend would take an even bigger hit in 07 but with 18% vowing to spend more on TV? Weird!
I’m not going to dissect the results so feel free to look for yourself.
All in all an interesting read that pretty much highlights the confusion in the industry.
Free your Employees! March 28, 2007
Posted by mikesolomon in The Media Landscape, Thoughts.add a comment
Christof Appel recently wrote an interesting post about how companies need to engage with their staff on a different level in order to keep their services. In this cut throat modern world its going to be more and more difficult to keep young, hungry talented staff. The threat of losing ones job isn’t as scary as it used to be – entrepreneurship is on the rise. I’ve always had an issue with companies that use fear and bully tactics to keep their staff. This is not going to work in the long run as people will leave.
Similarly, this report on Netflix focuses on how they treat their staff – bloody well I might add. Another leader in this space is Ricardo Semler at Semco. His revolutionary tactics have been called Industrial Democracy and looks to be a great way for employees and staff to engage. He’s also written 2 brilliant books Maverick and The 7 day weekend in which he has documented his company and how Industrial Democracy works within it.
All in all in this age of “Jumping the Shark” and the Web Worker, its going to be more and more vital for employees to do something different to engage their staff and to treat them like adults and not children.
SA’s own Onion? March 23, 2007
Posted by mikesolomon in Sites.2 comments
I stumbled across Kung News after hearing an ad for the site on radio. I dont normally pay any attention to radio ads but something made me check out the site maybe because it had a interesting call to action.
Anyway its sort of like a South African Onion News, but is no where near as good (hey the Onions has been around forever so its not really their fault). If you dont know the Onion – its sort of like a mock news site with brilliant and funny mock news stories. Anyway Kung News seems like it can grow into something good because its something different and seems to be mocking SA politicians which I love.
I also like how they have integrate mobile into the site to derive some revenue. Not sure about the content but ill be checking it out soon!
It seems to be run by a group called Virus Media – anyone know them?
