Category: entrepreneurship

MAPS – reverse SPAM

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

I wonder if anyone out there has been receiving any MAPS – reverse SPAM that is.

 

They do sneaky stuff like follow people on twitter or create blogs which link to yours so you backtrack to check them out. They trick you into paying them a visit. I guess it’s the ‘pull marketing’ of the SPAM world. Often it’s nonsensical as there is no website, no twitter person / company. I’m not sure how it gets their ‘message’ (if you can call it that) across, or whether there is something more sinister behind it?

I’ve had a bit of it lately and so I just coined it ‘MAPS’ reverse ‘SPAM’…

 

What’s your experience with this phenomenon?

Starbucks – Too much of a good thing?

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

“I’ll meet you at the Starbucks.”

“Which one?”

“The one on Broadway.”

“Like I said, which one?”

 

 

Starbucks has just announced the closure of 600 US stores, and in doing so wiped out 12,000 jobs.

 

I couldn’t have put it better than Marketing savant David Bloustein:

 

Growth via distribution will only take you so far right? Did anyone stop and think that 5 stores next to one another across the US might somewhat diminish performance for the individual stores?

Singapore Series – episode 1. Licensing Gone Wrong

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

I took this photo while in downtown Singapore.

 

 

While it’s clear that David Copperfield & Criss Angel are possibly two of the strongest ‘brands’ in the magic world, its not clear why they’d license their names and risk their personal brand equity?

 

They way start up blog sees it is that this start up magician is the only beneficiary here. Magic Box will either be great or no so great. Either way, Chris & David lose. Their either build someone elses brand, or dilute their own.

 

Or even worse, this is a non sanctioned pass off with no revenue sharing going to David Copperfield & Criss Angel.

 

Most licensing agreements have a winner and a loser. And the loser is usually the party whose brand gets over exposed. The coat tail raider often wins.

Singapore Series

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

On a recent business trip to Singapore I was surprised at how much cool stuff I saw. Not just start ups, but general marketing insight. It’s my general belief ( & many others) that globalisation has taken some of the joy away from travel. It’s harder to find new stuff, different concepts, and fresh ideas. Things just cross boundaries so much quicker now with the advent of $10 air tickets and the web.

But to my pleasure, it’s still out there if you look hard enough. So enjoy the next week’s blog entiries sub branded the “Singapore Series”.

Singapore personified!

By the way: How many brands are positively identified by their employees?

TV Interview

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

If you want see startup blog pontificator in action (Steve Sammartino) – then click on the link below the image. 

Click here to watch it.

Just in case you’re wondering it was not paid for, free media generated through consistent media engagement on a personal level. That is done by me, no PR agencies involved and almost 12 months after launch. You’d think we launched the site yesterday, which goes to show how staying the course and self funding can be massive advantages for those of us who are in it for the long haul.  Would VC’s have been patient enough to wait 12 months for this type of coverage? I doubt it.

By the way it goes for 7 minutes – which would cost in the range of $100,000 to buy.

Flying under the radar

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

Flying under the radar – actually has some real meaning. It was once the optimum strategy for a spy plane to fly as high as possible. This was thought the best way to get ‘out of reach’ of enemy and radar. The U2 spy plane did this by flying above 85,000 feet. When one was shot down during the Cuban missile crisis some smart people decided to flip their thinking.

 

 

 

The solution was so obvious in hindsight. Simply fly very low where the terrain blocked radar effectiveness. Underneath the radar!

 

Maybe it’s time to flip your thinking to solve today’s business problem.