The Beginning (Or The End) For Ad Agencies?
Posted on September 22nd, 2009
This speaks to the current POV that agencies who focus solely on brand building and marketing will have a hard time growing their business. Clients realize they can now do much of the marketing heavy lifting themselves — and very cheaply. Agencies who focus on providing content and building customer relationships via multiple distribution streams will be the big winners.
MINT.COM – started at home by one man, sold to Intuit for $170 Million.
Evolution of mobile phones
Posted on October 28th, 2008
In my presentation on Building Brand Value, I talk about the evolution of mobile phones. Cecelia Besu from The Keyes Company heard my spiel and sent me the link to this cool comprehensive video on the history of cell phones. See how many of them you owned! Thanks, Cecelia.
Steven Heller interviews Steven Jobs
Posted on July 14th, 2007
I’ll admit I’ve never been a huge Steven Heller fan, mostly because I didn’t understand a lot of what he said. But Kerry McLaney in my office turned me on to this interview and I agree with her that it’s brilliant. By the way, if you go to the AIGA site with the original interview, you can click on the image of Jobs for a great flash animation.
Thanks, Kerry!
I always wanted to ask Steven Jobs a key question. But since he’s so difficult to pin down, it had to wait until after his speech at the annual World Wide Developers Conference, just a few weeks before the highly anticipated launch of the revolutionary iPhone. Here’s how it went.
Heller: Mr. Jobs, it’s not easy to get you to sit for an interview, so I’ll make this short. Why do you always wear blue jeans and a black turtleneck?
Jobs: That’s what you got me here for? Why don’t we talk about my head-to-toe attack on Bill Gates with our Safari web browser available for Windows-based PCs or my revolutionary iPhone?
Heller: Sure, all that’s very interesting, but we don’t have much time. So, just answer this: Why always with the blue jeans and a black turtleneck? I know you can afford better clothes.
Jobs: You gotta be kidding! I’m sitting down with you because beginning today you can download this new software from Apple’s web site, and it’ll have twice the performance of Microsoft’s browser. I’m going to introduce this at today’s World Wide Developers Conference, and frankly, you’ve got the scoop.
Heller: Yeah, that’s a scoop, but so is this, if you’ll just answer the question: I’ve always wanted to know whether you’re saying “fuck you” to your audience or do your clothes have other symbolic significance?
Jobs: Look, I have no intention of talking fashion with you. I am encouraging Apple software developers to use modern Internet software standards to make applications compatible with Apple’s iPhone, which will go on sale June 29. I’m sure the announcement is likely to touch off a frenzy of activity and…
Heller: …And I can read all about it in the New York Times, but more to the point is, how often do you change your clothes. I mean, do you have an endless supply of baggy blue jeans and black turtlenecks, or do you rotate so they don’t get too raunchy?
Jobs: Are you some kind of moron?! I’m giving you the lowdown on how Apple will be able to increase its market share against the dominant software firm, because there are half a billion downloads of Apple’s iTunes software, mostly by Windows users, and you persist in this idiotic line of questioning?
Heller: You certainly are a tough interview, Steven—if may I call you Steven. So, tell me, do you get the jeans pre-washed or do you work them in over time during the course of rotating?
Jobs: Jeez. Rotate on this!!!
Jobs waves an iPod Shuffle with his forefinger. The interview ends abruptly.
Sure the iPhone looks great. But what’s it got under the hood?
Posted on July 9th, 2007
The good folks at ThinkSecret.com not only waited in line for six hours and paid $500 for their iPhone but they took the whole thing apart and documented it online (the picture above is theirs).
Just Scratching The Surface
Posted on June 6th, 2007
While Apple is promoting their iPhone as the next way to interact with digital media, Microsoft is busy pushing their new Microsoft Surface.
If you watched the conversation with Bill Gates and Steve Jobs (view it here) you saw them both selling their new technologies as the new model of information convergence. What’s most interesting to me is how these two products are becoming the physical interpretations of these two computer giants’ respective brands.
The World As We Know It Changes on June 29th
Posted on June 4th, 2007
Start whistling He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands” because with the introduction of the iPhone, convergence becomes ubiquitous.
Watch these three ads and notice that Apple doesn’t talk about the quality of the phone, the size of the memory, the beauty of the object itself or even the status of carrying one around. Instead, they show how this new tool turns impulses into realities, going from viewing a movie to researching dinner to making a reservation.
If you listen carefully, you can almost hear traditional distribution chains becoming irrelevant.
How are YOU planning on dealing with the certain impact of this new technology?
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By Bruce Turkel
