Archivos para mayo 2010

Marketing Optimization Technology: Be careful of shooting yourself (and your test) in the foot

(…) I had the pleasure of learning about an experiment devised by my colleague, Jon Powell, that illustrates why we must never assume that we test in a vacuum devoid of any external factors that can skew data in our tests (and even looking at external factors that we can create ourselves).

If you’d like to learn most about this experiment in its entirety, you can hear it firsthand from Jon on the web clinic replay. SPOILER ALERT: If you choose to keep reading, be warned that I am now giving away the ending.

According to the testing platform Jon was using, the aggregate results came up inconclusive. None of the treatments outperformed the control with any significance difference.  However, what was interesting is the data indicated a pretty large difference in performance with a couple of the treatments.

So after reanalyzing the data and adjusting the test duration to exclude the results from when an unintended (by our researchers at least) promotional email had been sent out, Jon saw that each of the treatments significantly outperformed the control with conclusive validity. Continue reading »

The Apple & Microsoft Brand Strategies – What Do You Think?

Yesterday, Apple‘s market capitalization eclipsed that of Microsoft. Their rivalry has fascinated me since I was old enough to geek. Apple has always been about control of the experience. Microsoft in its hey-day about control of the industry. Things they are a changing. So what about their brand brand strategies?

Brand Positioning: Microsoft
The Microsoft brand position has always been that of Number One – The market leader. This is a brand position that works for pathetic reasons. People want buy safe so buying from #1 seems like the safe choice. But Microsoft never channeled this dominance into a concrete brand position. They drank too much of their own cool aid and believed their solutions were more competitive than they really were. Being big has led them to being a big mush of meaning, being so many types of software, hardware, services, and systems they have no brand focus. What we here at Distility refer to as “over-branding”. As their dominance has waned, their brand position has deflated to the pathetic “I’m a PC” campaign.

Yes, their are some exceptions like the X-Box, but I’d argue that they essentially created a Masterbrand with X-Box, with “Microsoft” being treated as a lesser endorser brand. There’s a future in that.

What lies ahead for Microsoft as they succumb to second place? I see the Microsoft brand moving to the background so more focused brands like Zune, X-Box, and Windows can be accurately positioned vis-a-vis the competition.

Brand Positioning: Apple
My first Apple was the Mac 512/800. It was the easiest computer I’d ever used. That’s what made it different back then. Every Apple product I’ve used since then has maintained that dramatic difference. Steve Jobs knows the integral role that design can lead in brand differentiation. While they couldn’t be market leaders like Microsoft, Apple became the thought leaders with ease of use their weapon of choice. The “I’m a PC/Mac” campaign was the ultimate expression of that brand position.

Positioning is all about being positioned relative to a competitor, so what happens as the competition gets easy to use? Can Apple  sustain this position indefinitely?
Continue reading »

The ultimate iPad – for $200,000

Golden delicious … The gold-plated iPad Stuart Hughes has for sale.

While Australians wait with twitchy fingers for their regular iPads to turn up, a British designer who caters for mega-rich geeks has unveiled his latest creation.

Behold the solid-gold iPad Supreme Edition, worth about $215,000, which gives you Wi-Fi, 3G, 64GB – and a whole lot more.

Encrusted with 25.5 carats of flawless diamonds, 53 of the gems “dwell beautifully in the solid 22ct Apple logo“, seller Stuart Hughes said.

// The rear and screen surround are made from a single piece of solid 22ct gold, weighing 2.1 kilograms.

“A magnificent combination of top-of-the-industry technology and unrivalled craftsmanship was involved in creating this masterpiece”, is how the creation is described on Hughes’s website.

Only 10 of the units will be made.

The ultimate iPad follows some of Hughes’s other creations, which include the world’s most expensive phone – an iPhone reputedly worth more than $3 million.

watoday.com.au

Source: watoday.com.au

Five Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Expand Your Design Business

by Mathew Carpenter

Few industries are as primed for expansion and scale as web design. With a successful sales and marketing routine in place, gaining extra income can be as simple as hiring, researching, and delegating. From contracted designers to highly optimized business processes, scaling an online business tends to be a significantly less stressful process than expanding a more traditional offline company.

Continue reading »

Despega publicidad digital de aerolíneas

Eyeblaster ya publicó su último estudio respecto a la publicidad en las aerolíneas. Entérate qué viene y dónde están las mayores fortalezas. “Mientras el negocio de dirigir una línea aérea se ha mantenido más o menos igual durante la última década, la venta de billetes y la ocupación de los asientos ha cambiado drásticamente. De los muchos sectores afectados por la proliferación de Internet, pocos han tenido un impacto tan grande como el de los viajes y las líneas aéreas en especial”. Así comienza el último informe del proveedor de soporte multimedia para publicidad online Eyeblaster, denominado “Estudio sobre la Publicidad Digital para Aerolíneas”. Continue reading »

Social Sharing Is A Major Behavioral Shift In The 21st Century

I’ve been on Twitter for about 7 months and on Facebook for about a year or so. What I’ve noticed is that there are an increasing number of people sharing information on both these sites. With the opening up of Facebook’s social graph and Twitter acquiring companies that makes third-party services for them, it seems like this trend is going nowhere but north.

Social media has led to “social sharing,” the broadcasting of our thoughts and activities. It’s not a fad; it’s a sociological phenomenon, accelerating at break-neck speed. That macro trend is omnipresent sharing: What are you doing? Where are you doing it? Who are you doing it with? What do you like? These used to be things we kept to ourselves or shared with our friends and family. Now we’re willing to broadcast them to whoever is willing to listen.

Continue reading »

Don’t DI-lete: Weekly DI China Update

Cómo diseñar un producto que se vende

“El producto perfecto”

Five new business ideas for musicians and their fans

Manage and exchange CAD files on the go.

Essennovation, Part 2

Jonathan Reichental, Ph.D. – IT Innovations Director at PwC

In a recent blog I argued that in order to prosper as an IT professional in the new, sobering world of alternative sourcing, new skills may be necessary. These skills are being necessitated by the changing role of IT within organizations. While it is possible to outsource much of the commodity technology and related services required by organizations, there is an increasing need for creative, complex problem-solving technology skills. This layer of technology need requires high doses of innovation and the attendant right-brained skills to make it happen. Rather than discretionary innovation for both the IT professional and IT organization, I called this essential innovation and coined the term essennovation. While my intent was to bring clarity to a common theme currently being discussed within IT circles and in board rooms across the world, I was delighted by the high degree of new conversation the blog provoked. Continue reading »

The Reason Behind the Success of Reverse Innovation

by Yann Cramer

Thanks to a number of spectacular successes obtained by blue-chip companies in recent years, Reverse Innovation is becoming a popular trend. Examples include GE’s portable ultra-sound equipment designed in China and sold worldwide, LG’s low cost air conditioner designed in India and sold worldwide, Renault’s Logan low-cost model designed for Eastern European markets and now selling on Western Europe, etc.

In an enlightening article, Vijay Govindarajan outlines a historical perspective from globalisation to reverse innovation, and highlights the key driver behind this evolution: the revenue gap between developed and emerging markets. But there are other drivers that may be less visible but no less powerful.

The road to reverse innovation

In his article What is Reverse Innovation, Vijay Govindarajan outlines the following historical phases:

1. Globalization: companies designing and manufacturing in developed markets products that are “de-featured” for export to emerging markets that can’t afford the fully featured original product.
2. Glocalization: companies still de-featuring products from developed markets but now localizing production in emerging markets to take advantage of lower labor costs.
3. Local innovation: companies now designing in emerging markets products that are directly suited to the local needs. (Manufacturing continues to take place locally for costs reasons.)
4. Reverse innovation: companies designing and manufacturing in emerging markets for local use AND export to the developed markets (with or without some level of scaling-up). Continue reading »

333 trillones de combinaciones para customizar tus Munich desde el iPhone

por Juanjo Moreno

Escoger el color de la suela, la lengüeta, el talón, los cordones o cualquiera de los 16 elementos customizables del modelo Gresca de Munich ya es posible desde los terminales de Apple (iPhone, iPad y iPod Touch). La firma de calzado de moda y deportivo ha lanzado la aplicación Munichmyway, que además de diseñar permite comprar las zapatillas.

Es una extensión de la versión online de www.munichmyway.com que permite personalizar el modelo Gresca de Munich, ahora desde los terminales Apple.

El hecho de que se puedan customizar 16 áreas distintas de una zapatilla significa que existen más de 333 trillones de combinaciones posibles del modelo Gresca.

Una vez decidida la elección de los colores, se selecciona el número de pie y el pedido es enviado  directamente a la fábrica de Munich en Vilanova d’Espoia, Barcelona. Desde allí se fabrica especialmente cada par y se entrega en un plazo aproximado de dos semanas.

Además, esta aplicación permite guardar los diseños realizados y usarlos como wallpapers para iPhone, iPod Touch o iPad y compartirlos directamente en un perfil de Facebook o Twitter. Continue reading »

Paul Dano: Let Your Experiences Surprise You

As far as being “Hollywood” goes, actor Paul Dano doesn’t indulge the stereotype for a second. Relaxed, generally unconcerned, and a self-proclaimed homebody, he’s able to maintain a healthy diet of three or four films a year, and find ample time to hang out in his Brooklyn neighborhood. How? He just doesn’t worry too much about it all. Dano pays attention to the senses, knowing to say yes when he feels “lit up,” and from there, giving himself the freedom to ride out the experience.As a creative, Dano is of the “ebb and flow” philosophy, allowing himself to obsess over work and let sanity fly out the window during filming, only to return home to sleep in, catch a pickup game with friends, and consider his next move.

Following his intuition has served him well. Aside from his stunning turn in P.T. Anderson’s There Will Be Blood, Dano recently voiced the lovable goat in Where the Wild Things Are, and played opposite Zoey Deschanel in the art-house film Gigantic. This summer, he’ll appear as the dapper – not to mention lingerie-wearing – lead in The Extra Man, based on the book by Jonathan Ames. Continue reading »

CHART OF THE DAY: How Google Invests Its Cash



Google (GOOG) has an astounding $26 billion in cash. Brent Callinicos is the guy responsible for investing it.

Brent runs a 30-person trading operation at Google and is developing a more agressive trading strategy by the day, reports Douglas MacMillan at Bloomberg BusinessWeek.

Continue reading »