The future of publishing: Why ebooks failed in 2000, and what it means for 2010
This post is adapted from a speech I gave at the O’Reilly Tools of Change publishing industry conference in February. It’s a great time for ebooks. There are at least six ebook reader devices on the market or in preparation….
Harvard Business Publishing: Umair Haque - What Apple Knows That Facebook Doesn’t
Too often, we don’t recognize the power of platforms - even in Silicon Valley. Nilofer Merchant, Rubicon’s CEO, writes frequently on the topic and ties it together with strategy. The piece below by Umair Haque, draws an interesting difference between…
Bruce LaFetra's Blog
Evil Business Models: AT&T
March 17, 2010
If you follow Nilofer or Mike, you know Nilofer got hit with a $10,000 mobile data bill from AT&T for a recent trip to Canada. Not only do the rates go up once you cross the border, the billing increment changes from MB to Kb! The net-net is mobile data service in while roaming Canada is 3000% the domestic rate. Yikes! What’s a person to do? The charges are legitimate; albeit unconscionable no matter how one measures these things.
Bruce LaFetra on March 17, 2010
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What were they thinking?
February 7, 2010
It's always fun to watch the Super Bowl commercials each year. Some are really good; some are amusing; once in a while, one is really bad. Audi's "Green Police" ad for the A3 TDI diesel makes my list for one of the all-time worst commercials. Not because of the unfortunate parallels to Nazi Germany's Orpo, or German Order Police and their green uniforms. Not because it wasn't amusing--I laughed while watching it. No, this one goes down for mocking the very demographic Audi is targeting for the A3. Audi's Green Police are heavy-handed, over-the-top, greenie goons. Not the image I would associate with a product I actually wanted to sell.
Bruce LaFetra on February 7, 2010
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Canon Gets It
November 16, 2009
I was looking at digital cameras on the web the other day, and Canon stopped me in my tracks. They have user reviews just like many resellers, but very few manufacturers. Reviews are prominently featured just below the fold on the initial page for each camera model. More than that, they collect the most common comments at the top and list them under "Pro" and "Con" sections. You read that correctly--Canon prominently lists top consumer complaints on their web site. Things like "poor low light performance," "complicated to use controls/menu," and "difficult to use." Were the marketing people completely cut out of the loop?
Bruce LaFetra on November 16, 2009
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The Myth about the Myth of Crowdsourcing
October 7, 2009
Is Jigsaw the only true example of crowdsourcing? Dan Woods, writing in Forbes, thinks so.
Bruce LaFetra on October 7, 2009
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Quantifying Collaboration
September 9, 2009
One of the challenges with a qualitative process framework like the LOVE model is that it is hard quantify all the benefits, especially during the initial stages of adoption. The latest McKinsey Global Survey looks at the business benefits from Web 2.0. Operationalizing the LOVE model in practice leverages many aspects of Web 2.0, so the McKinsey data is perhaps the most relevant data we currently have for this type of approach.
Bruce LaFetra on September 9, 2009
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Hope or Hype: Data in the Cloud
September 2, 2009
Nilofer, just back from FOO Camp this past weekend, reports the underlying current in discussions involved data in the cloud and how valuable it will be. I'm on the record as a believer in cloud data, but maybe see it happening in a different way.
Bruce LaFetra on September 2, 2009
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If all you have is a PowerPoint hammer, everything starts to look like a bullet point
August 25, 2009
Why do we use PowerPoint so much? Is it to convey information more effectively or merely to communicate more information? How much thought do you give to your choice of tool in light of the objective in communicating the information: instruction, background, decision aid, or don't know? The truth is that we communicate information for a variety of reasons, but the rise of PowerPoint has caused people to stop linking how they communicate with the business objective. PowerPoint is a powerful tool for some purposes, but actually an obstacle to others. T.X. Hammes has an excellent article on how PowerPoint is changing decision making in the military.
Bruce LaFetra on August 25, 2009
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Filling Your Company with LOVE: A new framework for understanding consumer relationships
July 28, 2009
As companies see increasing value in social media campaigns, it is becoming apparent that the transactional-centric models currently used for tracking and measuring marketing campaigns are not up to the social media challenge. With social media campaigns often focused on brand building and driving engagement, the tools used to measure the impact on sales and brand are ill-suited to accurately measuring the full impact and value of social media campaigns. The buying or sales funnel that has served marketers well for many years no longer works in an environment now centered on two-way and unstructured communications. A new framework developed at Rubicon Consulting, Inc., building on ideas originally conceived by Harry Max, offers the relationship-centric LOVE model as a replacement--and enhancement--for the transaction-based buying funnel.
Bruce LaFetra on July 28, 2009
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Recessions Are Good for Your Business
May 16, 2009
Can your business grow in a down economy? According to a VARBusiness survey of 117 solution providers ("7 Ways to Grow in a Down Economy, VARBusiness, February 2009), fully half are expecting to grow in 2009. Does this seems crazy? It didn't seem so to me until after I read the list of top strategies that the VARs had for achieving this growth. Any business that helps customers do more with less should do very well; something to which the booming SaaS / on-demand software market can attest. But, unless you are in a hot growth market, the same-old, same-old will not produce results in 2009. And, if you are in a hot-growth market like enterprise SaaS solutions, doing the right things during a down market will act like a competitive force multiplier.
Bruce LaFetra on May 16, 2009
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Marketing Marketing
December 2, 2008
The business equivalent of making sausage is the marketing of marketing. In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal (November 29-30, 2008), Tom Hayes and Michael Malone explain the new world of marketing in a Web-based world. They have a provocative name ("Marketing 3.0") and a new concept (the business meme or "beme"). In the end, they sound like apologists trying to make a pitch for why advertising agencies are still relevant and reminds me of this humorous video imaging what would happen if a modern advertising agency designed the stop sign. In short, they are marketing marketing.
Bruce LaFetra on December 2, 2008
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