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(I should apologise for bringing you here by illicit categorisation and tagging, but I won’t. You might have wasted just 10 seconds. Hopefully you will make the choice to change someone’s world in less than a minute).

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Online Advertising trends

While I am in the mood to look at trends [see post: 6 factors that make a marketing leader successful made yesterday], this article on VentureBeat does a good job of highlighting the trends in Online Advertising; in particular the Content vs Community debate, which continues to surface, re-surface (and yet never go away).

Filed under: Advertising, Affiliate Marketing, Business, Measurement, Microsoft, digital, marketing, technology , Advertising, Community, Content, Online Advertising, trends, VentureBeat

I’d love the iPhone even if I wasn’t a stealth marketing parody

Like you, I’m bombarded every minute, of every day, with advertising. And having been misled more than a few times in my life, I’m immediately skeptical of any gadget or IT product I see on the back of a magazine or in a WAGs handbag. That’s why I was so surprised by the new Apple iPhone.

It truly lives up to the hype: Clean lines and crisp design, refreshingly quick web connection and crystal clear voice calls, it reminds my jaded ears how good a phone can be. Sure, I may not be a stealth marketer employed by an international conglomerate to imperceptibly push the product in public, but this gadget is so unbelievably great, I subliminally market it to perfect strangers for free!

Honestly, this awesome slice of history packs such a social punch, you’d practically have to pay me not to pretend to talk about it (even when I’m using it), whilst I’m in earshot of consumers in the coveted 17-34 demographic.

I’m not required by a sponsor to walk down Oxford Street while emitting a quiet but distinct “All right!” under my breath – just loud enough for the other potential customers to hear – but I do it anyway – just for the pleasure of furtively turning people on to this amazing 8th wonder of the world.

In stealth-marketing parlance, this is what is known as “grooming,” but I prefer to call it “the least I can do.”

Seriously, it’s an honour to subtly plug something I actually believe in for once. I’m so in love with this thingamajig, that I want to shout its name from the rooftops, on Tower Bridge and on the busy commuter train that is 23 minutes late. Its a busy train too, where consumers are sat still enough for brand loyalty to be wedged into their head without fail. I know it sounds crazy, maybe even a little scary, but honestly, the iPhone is just that good. How cool am I?

Don’t tell anyone, but I enjoy the iPhone so much, I sometimes stealth market it well outside the target demographic. Maybe it’s wrong of me to sit in the Oxford Town Bowls club transit van as they leave for the Devon away leg, chatting away to no-one on the other end of the line, or tipping it from side to side? But the rush I get from inconspicuously getting the word out about this tremendous new product is nearly impossible to find anywhere else. Come to think of it, the only other time I experience pure exhilaration like that is when I lift the lid and fire up the Mac Book Pro. Or listening to my iPod Nano. Or flirting about with Mac OS X v10.5.

Sure, the task of registering for nearly 30 different newsgroup accounts using fake names and e-mail addresses just to generate the honest word-of-mouth buzz this product deserves may sound like a lot of work to you, one of the few Brits who hasn’t been bowled over by the no-holds-barred brilliance of the iPhone.

Come to think of it, if I were hired to viral market a new phone I wasn’t particularly passionate about – for example a new phone with Microsoft Office whatsitcalled on it – I would just subliminally insert favourable comments in two dozen or so high-traffic chat rooms and be done with it. Maybe post a youtube video or two and kick start the conversation with a few dummy posts.

No, only a very special product could make me devote a week of evenings to surfing literally hundreds of chat rooms, gaining the confidence of unwitting users by establishing a base of common interests before casually mentioning how I recently tried the most hardcore, design-led, pick-a-chick-up phone the world has ever seen.

But hey, don’t let me influence you. Try the iPhone for yourself. If only the dating process was as impressively simple. Gotta go. Must post a new photo of me and my phone out and about, on Facebook.

Filed under: Apple, Blogging, Buzz, Design, Fun, Microsoft, User Generated Content, ideas, marketing , , Apple, Blog, iPhone, Joke, Parody, stealth marketing

Lessons in Managing Design

If you are not sure how design could fit into your business, the Design Council has the design knowledge resource‘, a superb microsite that showcases how other firms do it.

In the group are high technology firms Microsoft, Xerox and Yahoo!

The in-depth articles on how design is managed in these firms include practical ideas and real-life examples of design being used for business success. Great stuff.

Filed under: Design, Microsoft, Strategy, Xerox, Yahoo!, marketing , , Design Council, design knowledge resource, Microsoft, Xerox, Yahoo!

Mac or PC?

Here’s something for your weekend viewing pleasure.

Hat tip to Miguel Umanzor from thewayiseetheworld.  What a great spoof.

With viewing figures down around their ankles, MTV might be better off playing the odd curveball video like this….

Filed under: Apple, Fun, Mac, Microsoft, Music, Online Video, PC, Viral

A great period of invention

From a A TECHNOLOGY ALERT from The Wall Street Journal……

“Bill Gates and Steve Jobs held a rare joint appearance at The Wall Street Journal’s D: All Things Digital conference in Carlsbad, Calif., talking about the current state of the technology industry and reminiscing about the early days of collaboration between Microsoft and Apple.

The longtime rivals said the industry is in one of the great periods of invention. Mr. Gates suggested the next “revolutionary” change to computing will come from new ways of inputing data, while both downplayed predictions that Internet services will do away with the need for advanced software on PCs.”

Interesting stuff…..

Filed under: 2.0, Computing, Microsoft, PR, Quotes, Strategy, marketing

Microsoft and Yahoo! to merge?

Update: Take a look at techmeme.  Stories are coming in left right and centre, each with different views.   I believe Richard Scobleizer when he says No Microhoo!
……in other acquisition news in the technology space what appears to be early-stage discussions between Microsoft and Yahoo are taking place, with the parties considering a merger or some kind of match-up that would pair their respective strengths. The two companies explored a combination a year ago, but those talks went nowhere.

What’s in it for for both parties

It will be interesting watching this pan-out. Last month Microsoft and others including Yahoo, lost the chance to buy DoubleClick when Google swooped in and bought the online ad specialist for $3.1 billion.I’d also like to see Microsoft move into the SaaS space, and maybe a tie-up with Yahoo! could make that step a closer reality?

As always any comments welcomed!

Filed under: Microsoft, Strategy, Yahoo!, marketing