April 28, 2012 0

Starbucks and the triumph of spin

By in marketing

I’ve recently become a coffee drinker so am enjoying trying the different coffee chains, seeing their approaches and working out what keeps this market buoyant even in times of recession.

Very quickly I’m learning that Starbucks is the master of spin – where it clearly has a board-led agenda which doesn’t necessarily translate into a real customer experience.

Starbucks has taken it upon itself to start asking you for your name recently. You’re tired, you want your caffeine fix – and you’re being asked for your name. It confused me at first… why did they need it? Well it turns out that Starbucks wants to be your friend, and offer a personal service so that they can write your name on the cup with a big black marker.

Don’t you feel special now?

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April 24, 2012 0

Would Facebook buy Dropbox?

By in facebook, google, internet, social media

I was slightly amused by a quote in a BBC article about Google’s launch of cloud storage service.

Considering they’ve been offering it to everyone else for so long, it’s not exactly a shock. But my amusement came from a comment from one of their experts-on-call.

Richard Edwards, principal analyst at research firm Ovum, said: “Facebook doesn’t have a cloud service but this may prompt it into an acquisition. If Facebook was to buy Dropbox that would be a game-changer.”

This is one of those classic comments that probably has some analysis behind it. But boiled down to a soundbite, it makes very little sense. It comes across as “name big company that doesn’t have a cloud offering” and add it to “name a big cloud service.”

On the surface I can’t see much point in such an acquisition. But in an article at ZDNet  they’re in acquisition speculation frenzy after Instagram. Dropbox is third on their list of possible targets.

I think Facebook would have higher priorities on its hit list. If Facebook acquired Dropbox, then it would bring to mind eBay buying Skype. And that didn’t end very well.

Maybe the question isn’t “would Facebook buy Dropbox?” it’s “why would Facebook buy Dropbox”?

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April 13, 2012 0

Why Watch is like an adolescent Sky One

By in Uncategorized

I’ve always been fascinated by the TV industry, both UK and US, and one thing that interests me is how channels grow up in the UK satellite landscape. They all seem to go through a period of being born, growing (often with little to no programming) then gradually building their roster of programmes and brand awareness before flourishing into successful channels.

Sky One was largely Bewitched and Sale of the Century when it launched and it even recycled TV within the same day. It’s now a huge property for BskyB. Other channels have gone from obscurity to success such as UK Gold, UK Living and FX – and you can clearly see their growth and maturation over a number of years to where that obscure satellite channel is something that just seems everyday now.

So I think Watch must be an adolescent Sky One; growing in stature and confidence, but with the lack of maturity of often shown by a teenager. Watch is starting to get some reasonably notable shows under its belt (such as Alcatraz and Grimm)  but sadly the creative types at the channel (I won’t say marketers, as I don’t know who’s responsible) gets a little carried away, and assume their own excitement is shared by their viewers.  And that is one of the worst thing marketers and even sales people can do… get so excited about their product that it’s disproportionate to that of their customers.

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April 8, 2012 0

Why Google+ advertising may not work – aka we’re not all in a band

By in advertising, marketing, social media

Seeing the first advert for Google+ grace our screens is interesting – it clearly shows Google’s conviction to make it work. It also immediately starts to throw up some rather obvious issues.

It’s interesting that Google wishes to advertise its social network at all, because Facebook never has. So in some ways we’re seeing social network advertising for the first time born out of a business need rather than organic growth.

Google is going for a very aspirational feel – from a brand that has never demonstrated this quality. Google is functional, gets you the results… it’s an intermediary to get you to where you want.

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March 21, 2012 0

Welcome to my blog

By in Uncategorized

I often have opinions on things (don’t we all) and for most people a blog is a good mechanism to air those views to the world. So after much deliberation, my blog is born.

There is no agenda with this blog: I’m not trying to ‘build a brand’ or make money. I just want to comment on topics that interest me. Largely those topics will be marketing, customer service and technology – the things I’m very passionate about.

If people read these opinions great… if not, well then I’ve created a nice online diary for myself.

They won’t be researched pieces, most will be opinionated – but I hope some of it gives you food for thought.