Internet Marketing Design Innovation ...

Apprendre avec les erreurs de KodaK

Tout le monde sait que la photo numérique est devenu THE THING, mais comment comprendre porquoi les géants de l'argentique n'ont rien vu venir et n'ont pas su prendre le Wagon du numérique.

L'historie de Kodak the *primus inter pares* peut servir d'exemple : )

A lire et réflechir ** *"BusinessWeek ran an interesting story on business model innovation this week called "**Mistakes Made On The Road To Innovation* *". The article focuses on Kodak which reinvented itself yet can't get ahead in the new markets. *

*Among other things, the article talks about how the speed at which new models take over markets is getting harder to manage:*

*"At its peak, Kodak was an icon of American technology innovation. Now it's fighting to recover from a tech revolution that is strangling its core business. Kodak was late to recognize the problem, slow to react, and then went down the wrong innovation path.*

*Over time, all innovation gets commoditized. In this regard, business models are not different than products and services. So business model innovation must be a perpetual quest for renewal. *

*Look at how Dell, (DELL ) long the PC industry's heavyweight champ, has suddenly become wobbly in the knees. It revolutionized the PC business by assembling computers to order for customers while eliminating the middleman. Now competitors have caught up with Dell's efficiencies and are even undercutting its prices."*

*What struck me in particular is the notion that business models must iterate the way new technologies iterate. Creativity should not be isolated as a product development or an engineering problem. Creativity must be part of a company's approach to winning in the market.*

*If you think about this in terms of online media, it seems rather obvious. The banner innovation enabled the page view model to take off. Content targeting enabled the search market to explode. The success of those business models put parameters around the types of engineering problems to solve and opened lots of product creativity.*

*But business models beget business models and new revenue streams will continue to replace old ones. It can be frightening when the model you invested in becomes a commodity down the line and the company then has to decide how to redistribute its resources if it wants to grow again.*

*In the Kodak example, they didn't catch on to the commoditization of digital cameras fast enough and now sit in a market of margin wars, fighting for positioning on increasingly crowded shelves that provide weaker and weaker yields. Without a deeper relationship with the photographer, Kodak is almost meaningless and the technologies they sell are totally replaceable.*

*The article adds that Apple's music business is instructive. In iPod-land the connection between the hardware, software, media and revenue are all intertwined. And the more time and money a consumer invests in any one of those pieces, the harder it is for that person to end their relationship with Apple and all the related services in that market.*

*Kodak's focused approach on doing one thing well is actually failing them as more innovative business models squeeze them out of markets.*

*Similarly, page view inventory is losing its value in the online media market. Ad inventory on the home page at mymediaproperty.com used to command a nice premium because it was unique and captured a targetable demographic. Most advertisers are smart enough to recognize the value of independent media brands to lend credibility to their marketing messages and willingly spend lots of money to support those brands. But, at the same time, most online media brands are struggling to communicate their customers' marketing messages in meaningful ways. *

*Many advertisers are instead creating their own online brands rather than waiting for media companies to figure out that page views are an aging marketing platform.*

*I don't have the answer to the diminishing returns on page views, but I think I know what the market could look like eventually…*

*Take the **AllCrazyStyle mashup* * example. This site can tell me where to see music performances in my area that I might like by combining my listening behavior at last.fm and my saved locations at upcoming.org. *

*Where is the link to purchase tickets to each performance? Where is the link to buy the most recent album for each artist? AllCrazyStyle should be able to pull ad content from an ad network that knows what I'm most likely to click on, just like they can pull my listening behavior and location data. *

*They should be able to display ad content in whatever way makes the most sense in the user experience. I want those links to be there so that I don't have to go hunting for them, and I want them intergated into the experience. *

*And like Apple, the more time and attention I invest into either last.fm or upcoming.org, the harder it is for me to end my relationship with any of them and all of the ancillary businesses associated with them.*

*Regardless of whether or not this concept works or makes any sense, the idea that innovation is a technical problem is short-sighted. Bad business models (or no model at all) perpetuate incomplete approaches to innovation and weak ideas. *

*When you're battling in a commoditized market, you need to step back and steer the ship in another direction. Otherwise, you're going to get sucked deeper and deeper into protecting assets with weaker values against heavier and heavier competition. *

*Like Kodak, you'll fall behind all the innovators taking advantage of all the time you spend in meetings trying to figure out how to be more innovative. "*

Web 3.0 : provotive thinking

Just a little preview on it

*" Personally, I'm overjoyed that Web 3.0 is coming. When dogcrap 2.0 sites like PayPerPost and ReviewMe start getting a lot of attention, you know you're seeing the butt end of a movement "*

http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2006/11/welcome_web_30.php

Faire ouvrir un Email

There's no doubt that e-mail is one of the most effective marketing tools available to any business. But did you know that your entire campaign will ultimately hinge on just four or five words?

It doesn't matter how incredible your offer is. Your promotion will bomb if people delete your e-mail message without ever reading it.

And there's a good chance they will – unless you immediately answer the two questions at the top of every recipient's mind: "So what?" and "What's in it for me?"

Good subject lines will answer these questions by…

• Making an announcement or sharing news,

• Making the reader curious,

• Creating a sense of urgency, or

• Emphasizing how the reader will benefit from opening your e-mail.

These approaches work because they don't try to sell anything; they just create enough interest to get your e-mail opened in the first place.

But how your subject line looks matters, too.

For instance, a subject line that reads like personal e-mail from a friend or colleague is much more likely to be opened.

So format your subject lines like a sentence, not a headline. Compare "Want to see a movie?" with "Want To See A Movie?" or even worse, "WANT TO SEE A MOVIE?"

Which one would you open?

It's also crucial to write subject lines that your recipients can scan easily. To do this, here's a cool formatting tip you can use:

Make sure to include a balance of ascenders (letters like t, l, k, h, etc., that are higher than letters like o, m, s, etc.) and descenders (letters like g, p and y, that stick out below the other letters) in every subject line.

Your subject lines will pop out to your readers and they'll be more likely to open your e-mails.

Take a look at these ones for instance:

OKAY: Bob, seminar schedule here

GOOD: Bob, your schedule for today

As you can see, the "GOOD" subject line has a balance of ascenders and descenders, which makes it easier for your eyes to read.

Finally, make your subject lines short – 50 characters or under – so your carefully constructed subject lines aren't cut off mid-word when they're displayed.

To make sure your e-mails get opened, think like an e-mail recipient: busy, impatient, and dealing with an avalanche of e-mail every day. Don't waste their time. Write short, punchy subject lines that let them know immediately why this e-mail is worth opening.

Qui regarde la Video Online ?

Lycos, an online portal for broadband entertainment content, reports its Angelfire Web site at www.angelfire.com has claimed the top spot as the community destination for teens ages 13 to 17 and young adults between 18 and 24 years old, according the most recent comScore Media Metrix report of Internet audience rankings for October. Angelfire provides Web hosting, publishing and domain name services, featuring a full range of tools and services designed for web builders of all levels. The site's Blog and Photo Album Builder tools allow members to quickly and easily publish their thoughts and pictures on the Web.

URL black listé ?

Comment savoir si une URL a était ou est blacklisté par Google ?

Une question dans le vide .........

New games for Trekkies

Read all about it here : )

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyid=2006-11-28T123659Z_01_N28184873_RTRUKOC_0_US-MEDIA-STARTREK.xml&src=rss

*" LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - After a three-year drought, gamers can again boldly dive into a new series of "Star Trek" games now in stores. *

*Bethesda Softworks enlisted Dorothy "D.C." Fontana, a veteran "Star Trek" scribe, to guide these new adventures. She worked on the original 1960s series and wrote the story lines for Bethesda's first titles, "Star Trek: Legacy" for Xbox 360, and "Star Trek: Tactical Assault" for PSP. *

*"Game technology grows more and more innovative, more and more able to match the look of film and high-definition TV," Fontana said. "With the quality visuals now available, it puts the game experience on par with watching a movie or TV episode with the added benefit of being interactive." *

**

*Fontana became familiar with the video game realm after working on a previous "Star Trek" game, Activision's "Star Trek: Bridge Commander." In 1998, Activision signed a 10-year exclusive video game deal with Viacom for video game rights to all things "Star Trek." Two years ago, Activision sued Viacom over the license, claiming that the studio was not supporting the property with new films and TV series. "*

Ray Kurzweil - Porquoi on sera immortels

Expanding on some of the themes found in his new book The Singularity is Near, futurist and innovation guru Ray Kurzweil explains that we are almost at the point where hyper-powerful computers will enable people to live forever:

In an interview with *Information Week*, Kurzweil said people and computers will intermix with nanobots, blood cell-sized robots, that will be integrated into everything from our clothing to our bodies and brains. People simply need to live long enough—another 15 to 30 years—to live forever. Think of it as replacing everyone's "human body version 1.0" with nanotechnology that will repair or replace ailing or aging tissue, he says. Parts will become easily replaceable.

"A $1,000 worth of computation in the 2020s will be 1,000 times more powerful than the human brain," says Kurzweil, adding that in 25 years we'll have multiplied our computational power by a billion. "Fifteen years from now, it'll be a very different world. We'll have cured cancer and heart disease, or at least rendered them to manageable chronic conditions that aren't life threatening. We'll get to the point where we can stop the aging process and stave off death."

Adware dans le Monde MAC

*Savvy Windows users are all too familiar with fighting off adware and other nasty code that downloads from the Internet and snoops on our activity, pinches data, or generally clogs things up - and those who aren't familiar are usually the victims. *

*Up until now, though, Mac users have been fairly smug in the knowledge that adware has been virtually non-existent on OS X. *

*Now some hackers have created a proof-of-concept sample of adware that will run on a Mac, and whilst it isn't particularly a threat, it proves that a Mac can be infected if security measures aren't in place.*

*iAdware (oh how original) could well mutate into something nastier, though most malicious coders are happy to stick with Windows thanks to its large user base and a host of existing exploits ready to be developed further. *

La nouvelle mine d'or : la donnée

*"Data is the new oil!" Clive Humby , ANA Senior marketer's summit, Kellogg School.*

Data is just like crude. It's valuable, but if unrefined it cannot really be used. It has to be changed into gas, plastic, chemicals, etc to create a valuable entity that drives profitable activity; so must data be broken down, analyzed for it to have value.

The issue is how do we marketers deal with the massive amounts of data that are available to us? How can we change this crude into a valuable commodity – the insight we need to make actionable decisions?

First we must understand that data is not insight. It is easy to grab a single fact and extrapolate that one fact into an actionable direction. But without context a fact is just that a fact, it is not an insight. For instance, if you discover that in one area your brand awareness level is significantly below your brand awareness level of other regions, should you panic? One brand analysts did. He sent up a red flag throughout his company telling the world that the sky was falling. However, when the CMO checked other facts (share levels, profit margins, target segment awareness) he uncovered that the once thought issue area was in fact a not a problem at all but a very profitable area.

Second we must understand that for data to mean something must be placed in context to the marketplace. An insight is usually a simple fact, one that allows all corporate functions to work together. Howard Schultz says in his book that his key insight for Starbucks was "we serve people coffee, we don't serve coffee to people". That one concept changed everything Starbucks did. It helped Starbucks understand they were not about the coffee, but the experience they offered people. More importantly it has help drive everything the company did - it helped provide everybody with a screen to throw ideas against and weed out the bad ideas. It helped people make of the more right decisions which has keep the company growing: like not chasing people out of the store, even if they linger and buy no more than one cup of coffee. Starbucks is the place to meet, the place they are happy to see you. No one is a number or a profit target. They are people, enjoying the experience of buying coffee at $4.50 even though they could buy their coffee for only $.95 two doors down the street.

Data then is the commodity. An insight is the currency that gives you the wherewithal to drive organic growth. Therefore while it is critically important to continue to drill down for data, one must remember not to accept data as fact and not to accept a fact as insight. By looking a facts in context to your situation you are providing everyone on your cross-functional team with a usable insight – a simple principle by which decisions can be screened, a way to help determine if the actions you are about to take are on or off target. But as Wendy's founder Dave Thomas said "Simple is hard". Finding a simple yet cultural changing insight will be hard, but its concept will be so simple, powerful and galvanizing, that it will drive real change within an organization. So become a marketing insight roustabout and start drilling for your crude.

Wii launch

Of all the news over the past few days about the launches of Sony's PS3 and Nintendo's Wii, the most interesting has been the differing responses of the people waiting to purchase the different consoles. While the launch of the PS3 was marred by violence (people robbed of their PS3s in mall parking lots, crowds trampling people in a mad rush for games, police needing to quiet unruly crowds waiting to buy with pepper bullets, etc.), the launch of the Wii was peaceful, with no reports of violence that I can find. This comment on Digg is typical of the sentiment I've seen expressed online about the two groups of fans:

Try working at a Circuit City... went in for a 7am meeting and got badgered by the losers. I have to say the "wii-tards" were much more tame than the "ps three-tards."

There are several obvious reasons for the PS3 violence: the PS3 was possibly more anticipated, their initial supply was more limited than that of the Wii, and the machine is more expensive. But the difference in reaction also has something to do with the goals of each company in regard to their respective systems and the types of people each system tends to attract. Nintendo is focused on play and fun: the Wii is the fun system...about people of all ages enjoying the process of playing games. The PS3 is more about competition, who wins, who loses, and who frags the most enemies in the most spectacular fashion; cutthroat survival of the fittest. These are generalizations of course, but I find it interesting that the Nintendo gamers, who are attracted to play and fun, didn't cause as much trouble as the PS3 fans, who are more into competition