Tag: Dot Com

  • CIRCULAR MARKETING: The Number One Issue of 2006

    We are being forced to re-design to a new level of “micro-nization” of business units, a “wireless-izing” of mass communication and a “voip-izing” of populace conversations in marketplaces, under a massive globalization with highly localized customization to fit the demands of consumers. This subject is very hot and research on these issues is still being drafted.

    Here Comes Circular Marketing

    When the earth becomes almost like a digitally formatted platform for the net and e-commerce savvy to skate on, then its time for marketing to become circular. Marketing is now what a wrapper should be around a chocolate bar. Yummy. Where, all aspects of marketing are being delivered to the customers at their destination of choice, simultaneously competitive, homogeneously synchronized, interactively managed in Technicolor with real touch & feel along with extensive support and services available round the clock. Totally wrapped around. Creating chain of events leading to circumstances, anticipated reactions and a circularity of service and deliveries of the selling proposition. Repeated around the globe and all over the circumference. Totally circular.

     

    Today, going global means going circular, or circumnavigating this shrinking globe in search of new electronically accessible villages, digitally connected cites and interconnected cyber-continents on an hourly basis. This is now the normal hourly routine, repeated 24-7-365. Wow, a big dizzying change, a real culture shock from having an architecturally twisted booth displayed at a yearly trade show or few executives hopping on a few jet-lagging global trips. The old methods are now replaced by taking marketing messages and wrapping them around the entire markets, hidden in the various global markets all in a constant circular navigational format. As new markets and customers are discovered they too get full wrap around services and comfort level. Circular all the way.

    We are being forced to redesign to a new level of “micro-nization” of business units, a “wireless-izing” of mass communication and a “voip-izing” of populace conversations in marketplaces, under a massive globalization with highly localized customization to fit the demands of consumers. This subject is very hot and research on these issues is still being drafted.

    The laws of circular marketing clearly points to a very different approach and a dramatically different system, altering the old corporate thinking based on the big image formation and delivery of an overly repeated message to now a sophisticated range of ideas via exclusive name identity expansion, digitally supported by an image and followed by real brand delivery. A great cost saving and high profit strategy.

    Executives must explore the new laws of building global name icons and cutting edge trends; create new standards to operate in a small yet very ‘Multi-National-Formation-Micro-Unit-style. Thinking extremely big in terms of name functionality in the global arena while operating extremely micro in terms of graphical overloads and traditional campaigns are now the new standards in circular marketing.

    Marketing is now only global; all the other books that say otherwise must be burned. Furthermore, the Dot Com craze was directly responsible for this mega shift. Web-based crusade wasn’t wasted at all…. It is time to sincerely thank the dot-com revolution, Silicon Valley and the exuberant gold rush of Wall Street. Now that the greed has been gently slapped on the wrist, the vindication of Wall Street is done. Forget, forgive and move on as bigger opportunities clearly lie ahead. Go circular.

    Step One. Audit,

    What good are brands and corporate name identities if they are not a buzz? What good are expensive websites, if they are invisible? The answer is to simply execute a professional audit. Remember, not by the same people who are running your image and branding circus. A candid and very open discussion on this subject is most critical.

    Step Two. Aim

    What good are expensive campaigns if nobody remembers or understands them?
    What good are the selling propositions if they are off target and or out of scope?
    To nurture a sophisticated series of selling ideas and their related delivery systems under the modern guidelines to suit the customer of our new digitally flat earth requires brand new sets of skills. Aim high or aim low but aim very clearly.

     

    Step Three. Fire

    Fire the current set-up, as it’s dragging the corporate strategy down. The number one issue for 2006 is to face the global marketing challenges head-on and any insecurity or the doubtful actions based on the old marketing schools would seriously fail. Out there its’ all very new, on one side a very new flat earth and on the other a very new circular marketing both offering extra-ordinary opportunities. Best, get the right team with the right knowledge and explore circular marketing.

  • Star TV: looking for a Dot Com CEO

    Star TV: looking for a Dot Com CEO

    Star TV India is on the prowl for a dot com chief. The company is scouting around for an individual who will steer its forway in to the Wide World of the Web and e-shopping and communities. It is beleived to be in conversation with several senior executives and placement agencies have been roped in to lasso the right candidate for the job.

    The company already has a portal startv.com. It plans to create many more portals and has set up a subsidiary for the Internet business, which will also offer Internet access. It is looking for partners in New Delhi to provide broadband Internet access through cable networks.

    The company plans to get into the broadband area and offer webcasting services.Star TV CEO Peter Mukerjea does not want to miss the bus which the arch rival Zee Telefilms has already boarded. Zee Telefilms has a clear advantage with its own cable network SitiCable. It is already conducting pilot projects in Bangalore and Mumbai for Internet over cable.

    Star expects to also form a community of Internet portals which it will likely offer along with access. The company is also looking at forging alliances with existing portals by taking equity positions in dot com startupps.

  • Naming that THING…again?

    Most corporations, when giving birth to a new product, behave just like parents jumping in frenzy in a maternity ward. This typical hysterical hoopla of the incubation wing is often replaced by a subtler, cubicle behavior and at times becomes a subdued. Dilbertish style revolution. Objects do fly, even though they are memos or sometimes, sharp yet harmless, foamy projectiles. Everyone shares the excitement and all fights are well intentioned. Everyone wants a successful launch. There is always a good feeling and everyone is happy.

    One, naming that new THING is the most critical and extremely controversial part of the innovation cycle. Every participant passionately displays sets of arguments and opinions, molding and changing each time in every other round, while that new object of attention behaves almost like an alien, projecting strange vibes, lights, and humming sounds. This isn’t a sci-fi project, ask any technology company or a bank creating a new credit card, they each have similar out-of-body, extra-terrestrial types of experiences. This is normal when logic leaves the body and the brain drifts in creative space. There’s nothing to fear, these attacks of mild lunacy is what ad agencies are made of. Wow, this means there is now an open season for hunting down a new name.

     

    Without a name, there is no calling-device. No customer will ever refer to it or even talk about it. Basically, no name, no story. No story no ad-campaign. No ad-marketing no business. Get it? It seems what to call that thing is the most critical issue behind this total incubation strategy, startling romance with the initial idea leading all the way to final delivery. So push. The reason why corporations want to do this internally is no different than having mother-in-laws team up with distant relatives to name a set of twins. But wait, this time, let’s just go and get them some external naming. Here, we will send in the clowns. Big and small teams are hired to pool names. Thousand of choices later, that thing become the thing. Now we’re getting somewhere.

     

    No matter what the complexity of the innovation or what the size of corporation, this naming issue always has four critical sides. Only questions?
    1-Character: What is this new thing? How and why does it work and why will it change or overcome a hurdle? What are its characteristics and possible personalities?
    2-Customers: Who are they and why will they buy it? What are they thinking and how will you attract them? Why will they respond to your name and grasp this innovation?
    3-Competition: How will they attack? What are the other confusing names in the market place? How do you get a unique and a distinct name identity to secure a market position?
    4-Delivery: How will you tell your side of the story? How will you deliver this message?

    What must they remember in a name? Why should you protect the name?

     

    This may sound simple and almost boring, so let’s go to the danger zone. Most new innovations simply die of quick exhaustion as they fail to deliver the precise message of their story. Either the lack of clarity in a name or sending multiple messages that confuse customers will do just that. Sometimes, this is done to please different interests and sometimes-in total oblivion to the customer’s perceptions and realities. Promoting totally irrelevant aspects of the name identity or the missing of a distinct name altogether without any logical association with the product itself will never help.

    The general perception that expensive branding will always fix the entire name image problem is way off line. Branding is an art; however, the term is loosely used by far too many as a cure for all. Without a proper placement of a clear name identity and a sophisticated naming strategy, branding is a lost cause. A buyer not only needs to understand the message but also must remember the name and be happy to talk about it. Otherwise, the entire promotion is just an expense. This is how popularity is lost, case studies are shelved, agencies changed and nothing gained.

    True, there are thousands of great success stories, and we always start with Yahoo, Ebay, and Amazon of the recent past or Microsoft, Intel of distant past. IBM, GM of the hinder years. Ah, what about the millions that came so close to success before they ran out money, who just couldn’t finish telling their entire story?

     

     

    Telling stories is what advertising and branding does. Some are good, but are more than often plain stories, wrapped only in a short-lived promotional hoopla and without properly structured memory recall devices. Is this the reason why all car commercials look the same? Why are almost all logos and names so similar? The toll of innovation on the human mind is enormous as every second; some new product is being introduced with a spinning logo and a weird name. Does it matter if it’s coming from some foreign, unpronounceable land? Irrespective, it’s sitting in front on our screens. The bottom line is, telling an expensive story at the cost of a poor name identity is a disaster in the making. The dilution of name identity is the number-one killer of good innovation, corporate images, websites or new services.

    The global competition is forcing executives for a deeper understanding of cyber-branding as an art of telling stories, rather than plastering billboards. The power of e-commerce can only be harnessed by designing digital name identities, ready to circumnavigate without language or trademark problems. The reason why these issues aren’t being discussed in detail at branding conferences or being taught at major B-Schools is still a mystery.

    If a good name only costs a fraction of the whole storyboard, then why is it ignored? A corporation will clearly lose its navigation without a solid naming strategy designed under professional guidelines.

    Today there are five critical questions that management must ask itself:

    Is the name global? Prove it.
    Is the name yours? Own it.
    Is the name with an identical Dot Com? Show it.
    Is the name easy? Say it.
    Is the name in trouble? Change it…

    Ah, so would this mean naming that thing…again?