Category: brand names

Mass customization

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

Here’s a few categories or Industries which have been revolutionized by Mass Customization:

 

T-shirts (Threadless & Neighborhoodies)

TV (Youtube & Joost)

Handbags (Elemental Threads)

Journalism (Blogs & podcasting)

Newspapers (RSS)

Job Seeking (Aggregation & feeds)

Book publishing (Lulu)

Tourism (the web in general)

Luxury goods (fractional ownership)

Music (itunes)

Networking (facebook & social apps)

 

In fact there’s just too many to mention.

 

But the real question is this: If it hasn’t hit your industry yet, why not and what are you doing about it?

Losing the plot – MTV

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

I found out the other day that MTV used to play music videos… here I was thinking that the ‘M’ stood for ‘Miscellaneous’

 

But seriously, they have lost the plot a little. It’s rare to turn it on and find a song playing.

 

It’s one thing to diversify revenue streams it’s another to forget why you are there in the first place. And this is why alternatives like VH1, Music Max et al had room to move into the market in the first instance.

 

I get my music from youtube now – on demand. Simply because none of the music channels on cable (pay TV) cut it anymore.

 

 

Sure, evolve, but don’t forget why your business / brand / startup exists.

More ‘Badvertising’ – Cadbury trucks

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

After the viral success the Cadbury Gorilla achieved, there is nothing to like about this follow up advertisement.

 [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX7dFmxqb60] 

According to startup blog here’s why:

  • Poor branding, the brand is just an addendum
  • There’s no real link between the category, chocolate consumption and the advertising idea
  • It’s not particularly sneeze worthy (using a Seth-ism) and slightly boring
  • The budget seems a lot bigger than the idea 

Start up lesson: Sometimes big budgets can be a disadvantage.

Given I’ve recently consulted for Cadbury, you can be sure my opinions on this blog are real and never contrived or influenced.

Cool brands

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

Cool brands are put simply, just like cool people. It’s not so hard to believe when we consider that brands (well known ones) have personalities. Brands have values, share ideas and represent something.

Brands are just like people, the personification of things or services.

So what makes a cool brand? The same stuff that makes a cool person.

Cool people:

·        Cut new ground

·        Dress how they want

·        Don’t care about being popular, which is why they ‘become’ popular

·        Do stuff they like, not what others like

·        Have strong opinions and values, don’t care what others think

·        Don’t try and impress – so they do

·        Are confident and relaxed

·        Aren’t selfish, mean or vindictive

·        Are often compassionate and kind

·        Are easy to get along with (easy to use?)

·        Take a while to be understood

·        Get discovered eventually as being – thought leaders

·        Cool in a crisis

             fonzie.jpg 

Hey, there’s plenty more personifications where these came from – so be

like Arthur Fonzerelli and add them to the comments.

The love list

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

All entrepreneurs should keep a love list.

‘What’s a love list?’ you say…

It’s a list of companies / brands / startups with one thing you absolutely love about their offer. It could be their logo, a web page design, the way they answer the phone, their value added services, an emotional link to their product, an advertising campaign, their social responsibility, their green credentials, the product prices….anything. It’s not static, it changes weekly. It’s like a music top 10, it evolves.

Here’s my current love list:

Love List Who What I love…
1 Ripcurl Best wetsuits. They make surfing possible for me all year!
2 Ipod Industrial design
3 Borders books The library factor – read before you buy
4 Tivo / IQ Ultra convenience – no more bad TV
5 Youtube Instant entertainment – I can usually watch whatever I want, whenever I want
6 Qantas Club The decore & comfort. I feel exclusive walking into a members only club
7 Toyota Prius Gives my ego a massive boost every time I drive it.
8 Seth Godin He makes me feel smart
9 Tiffany The definitive packaging
10 Snickers Mr T get some nuts TV adv.

  Yep, you can see what drives me, but hey sharing ideas requires self exposure. Share  yours in the comments section. We’d love to hear it!

Some stuff all web startups should know

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

I’ve just read the following book. 50 great e-Businesses and the minds behind them. By Emily Ross and Angus Holland. It includes all our favourites over the past 10 years. Put simply it’s insightful.

 50-great-e-businesses.jpg

I really think you should read it, but if you’re time poor like most entrepreneurs here’s my bullet point summary for you:

  • More than 80% of these businesses were founded and run by non-technical people (web designers / coders etc)
  • Only a handful actually went viral and had overnight success
  • ‘Fun parks’ build traffic & members quicker than ‘real commercial sites’ (see next blog entry)
  • The majority did not have VC funding, fancy offices, or even staff. They bootstrapped.
  • Most took much longer than 2 years to build
  • The most unexpected and common thing that drove success was cold calling & collaboration 
  • The entrepreneurs behind them we’re driven by the idea, belief and excitement – not only the potential for big money.

Worth a read.