Fresh Perspectives
Leigh Marriner — 12 August 2008
Mobility counts. In the future we will want always-on wireless broadband capacity to be sending personal videos/photos data and connecting to our social network while mobile all the time. Fast mobile broadband, whether Mobile WiMAX or 4G cellular network wireless, will be offered in the next year or two. This will make it possible to send and receive any kind of content while mobile. It will enable new behaviors. You won’t have to wait until you get home or to a WiFi hotspot to do things. Consumer electronics devices will have broadband connections built in and you will be able to play interactive games, exchange photos and videos and search the web while mobile, the same way you do now at home. Your personal content will be stored in the cloud so you can have access wherever you want.
Will mobile network providers compete successfully with wired broadband providers? They would have to offer close to the bandwidth and speeds they would be replacing, but this is looking more possible. WiMAX is an IP-based standard that will be operational next year, and has a 1-2 year headstart on the new US 4G wireless networks. With Mobile WiMAX, speeds of 10 Mbps at 10 km can be delivered, even if the 70 Mbps promised at 50 km is more hypothetical. Verizon and AT&T‘s LTE 4G wireless mobile broadband (LTE) promises to deliver 100 Mbps download speed next year, which is a lot faster than the 2.4 Mbps (EVDO) or 7.2 Mbps (3G GSM) US wireless currently delivered. The traditional wired US broadband providers currently offer speeds of 1.5+ Mbps and new offerings promise up to 3 Mbps. In the longer run, modern cities will have access to 100Mbps via fiber. But in rural areas and developing nations, wireless will probably be the backbone of the broadband infrastructure. And consumers need for mobile broadband may cause them to switch to mobile broadband, the same way many people have turned off their landline phones. Some experts say it may require on the order of 11 Mbps always-on broadband in the future to handle consumer data transfer needs, which any of these standards will be able to offer.
Posted in Consumer Technology Trends
Cynthia Chan — 12 August 2008
It's 8:08pm on August 8th, 2008. Beijing's Olympic opening ceremony caught the attention of the world. People are equating the opening ceremony to China's debutante. China is indeed showing herself to the world but at the same time, she's also showing her people their own country.
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Posted in China Markets
Tommy Stinson — 4 August 2008
I spoke today at the Media X Conference entitled, "Monetizing Audience Engagement in New Media". My talk was on the importance of basing audience engagement on an anthropological understanding of the audience and what's meaningful to them. Certainly not the most interesting of all the talks given, but hopefully I said something of value.
In preparing for the presentation, I created a slide that addresses an assumption that underlies much of what we do: that products and brands (and services, and channels, etc. etc.) have an inherent symbolic value. Products aren't products in the abstract - they stand for something, and often that "something" is what informs our purchase choice. I was looking for recent examples that could illustrate this point, and was very pleased to find an article detailing responses to the recent InBev acquisition of Anheuser-Busch. I couldn't have found a better example.
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Posted in Etcetera
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LiAnne Yu — 1 August 2008
The story about China in the Western media is shifting, from celebrated miracle economy to potential global threat. In particular, the Western media is paying more attention to the developing trade relationships between China and Africa and the implications of that on China’s access to resources from regimes that the U.S. does not support. As an example, many, including Steven Spielberg and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, have spoken out about China’s role in escalating the humanitarian crisis in Darfur by its support for Sudan. It sells weapons to Khartoum, while Sudan provides two thirds of its oil reserves to Beijing. Trade between the China and Africa has topped $55 billion in 2006, and China hopes that two-way trade will hit $100 billion by 2020.
The Western media tends to portray this as an “unholy alliance” that is emerging out of nowhere. However, China’s interest in Africa shouldn’t come as a surprise if we pay closer attention to the history of Chinese-African relations.
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Posted in Emerging Markets
Miguel Gomez Winebrenner — 30 July 2008
As published in the book Hispanic Marketer’s Guide to Cable 2008, available soon from the Cable Advertising Bureau.
An abundance of information has been garnered in the past few years on how to win the hearts and minds of Hispanic females. Major CPG, healthcare, media, and HBA businesses have conducted research about what it entails to be a Latina, the meaning of beauty, what makes them feel special and appreciated, the importance of family, etc. And in many ways this information has led to newer and better products for her, new publications that cater specifically to her, new TV content and channels, as well as better offerings at the supermarket and other places where she shops.
However, as the market has evolved (due to shifts in levels of acculturation, immigration policy, and the positive proliferation of media options to name a few) so too have the strategies to win this target over. Historically, a lot of emphasis has been placed on the role of family in how a Latina is uniquely different to other ethnic/racial groups. While this continues to be an important factor in marketing, there are more and more companies having discussions about how their brand(s) can “empower” Hispanic women, and use this as a driving strategic principle.
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Posted in Hispanic Markets
Steve Diller — 27 July 2008
Many of us offering innovation consulting services are engaged in a relentless debate about the concept. For some of us, "innovation" is about fresh product concepts. Others focus on a broader agenda that includes re-inventing corporate structures. Yet others argue from a more ephemeral standpoint, concentrating on the dynamics of creativity.
Whichever approach you're taking, if you're playing in the space, you're trying to define the nature of this "innovation" thing, because the stakes are so high. If we can get clarity, we can direct all our resources to developing the optimal solutions.
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Posted in Innovation & Design
Stephen Palacios — 21 July 2008
A recent article in Ad Age, “Consumer Chasm: Distance widening between consumer types,” put forth an interesting notion regarding the growing importance of consumer segmentation in the corporate organizational structure:
“The emergence of the title of chief marketing officer elevated the marketing function to a level of importance equal to that of finance and the chief financial officer. Within the C-suite, we may see the creation of a new position under the CMO: consumer-segments communicator.
That person will be the one who keeps everyone in the firm up to speed on the different and fast-changing channels through which each segment of consumers can be most efficiently reached, queried and persuaded.”
Why is this particularly of interest to multicultural marketers? Because it is the encapsulation of the debate on whether separate infrastructures (strategies, departments, and agencies) are required to effectively reach the two largest and fastest growing consumer segments in the United States, namely: Hispanic and African American.
Ironically, without highlighting Hispanic marketing, this article underscores a point of view I’ve been advocating a lot – that multicultural, and specifically Hispanic marketing is now relevant on a much larger corporate scale. The evolution of Hispanic marketing in conjunction with the evolution of the Hispanic market itself (to one of power, influence and acculturation), gives enlightened Hispanic marketers the advantage.
Let’s review why this evolution has created the optimal foundation for segment marketing competence…
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Posted in Hispanic Markets | Innovation & Design
Steve Diller — 20 July 2008
In the last decade or so, it seems like marketing departments have come to see "ideating" as a core test of their coolness and creativity. Since few of us in business maintain parallel careers as artists, this expectation creates anxiety about corporate managers' capacity to be creative on demand. The success or failure of an ideation session often seems focused on whether people's inner creatives were liberated, that the session had been fun and cool, and that the experience produced novel, far-out ideas. While I enjoy creative thinking exercises as much anyone, I think these expectations are way out of whack. The thing is, when it comes to success in the marketplace, creativity isn't what matters. Relevance is what matters.
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Posted in Innovation & Design | Innovation & Design
LiAnne Yu — 7 July 2008
Here at Cheskin, we often use examples to help our clients consider all of the elements that contribute to a great brand experience. Nike, Apple, Starbucks offer more than just a product to their customers - they create the conditions for meaningful experiences. Disney is one such brand that is more than any park or cartoon character or toy. Disney represents a sense of Wonder.
But what does this really mean? Last weekend I had the privilege of visiting Disneyland again for the first time in many many years. Disneyland holds a special place in my childhood memories as it's the very first vacation i remember taking. Sitting on my parent's living room mantle is a faded photo of a four-year old LiAnne being hugged by Minnie Mouse. For my mini-me, D-land really was the happiest place on earth, and for many summer vacations after that I wanted no less than to dress up as a princess and walk along Main Street USA hand in hand with Minnie or Tinkerbell or Cinderella. On this recent trip I wondered: Would I be less enchanted as an adult now that I had more of an awareness of the artifice?
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Posted in Meaningful Experience | Innovation & Design
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