The sad demise of the three-Martini lunch
...anyone who thinks that “Mad Men”, a TV drama in which 1960s advertising executives spend the working day sucking up Scotch, is a pastiche, would do well to talk to an account manager from the time—though his memory may be hazy.
Tipsy employees, they say, find it hard to focus on a task, but this makes them more likely to come up with innovative ideas. This may help to explain the success of Silicon Valley, one of the last workplaces in America where hard and soft drinks still jostle for space in the company fridge.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
The Joy of the Nudge Olympics
A highly successful Olympics contains two lessons for Britain’s policymakers. Only one is reassuring
In fact most Olympics work pretty well. But each host achieves that end by different means. In 2008 China staged a command-and-control games, shunting dissidents and other undesirables out of Beijing, ordering locals not to drive and even launching 1,100 cloud-seeding missiles before the opening ceremony to make it rain somewhere other than over the main stadium.
By contrast, the London games have been a “nudge” Olympics, where locals and visitors have been coaxed rather than coerced. Nudging, a theory developed by two American academics, Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler, is in vogue in Britain.
What works stunningly well for a fortnight is impossible to replicate over a longer period. And, like all those Olympic athletes, the games organisers toiled for seven long years to achieve two glorious weeks in 2012.
In fact most Olympics work pretty well. But each host achieves that end by different means. In 2008 China staged a command-and-control games, shunting dissidents and other undesirables out of Beijing, ordering locals not to drive and even launching 1,100 cloud-seeding missiles before the opening ceremony to make it rain somewhere other than over the main stadium.
By contrast, the London games have been a “nudge” Olympics, where locals and visitors have been coaxed rather than coerced. Nudging, a theory developed by two American academics, Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler, is in vogue in Britain.
What works stunningly well for a fortnight is impossible to replicate over a longer period. And, like all those Olympic athletes, the games organisers toiled for seven long years to achieve two glorious weeks in 2012.
Advertisers cautious of move to mobile - FT
Mobile internet use accounted for 10.1 per cent of media use in the US at the end of last year but attracted only 0.9 per cent of the total money spent on advertising, according to US research firm eMarketer
For now, advertising rates are “terrible”, with CPMs, or cost per thousand views, running at 35-40 cents, says Matt Murphy, who runs the mobile start-up fund at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins. That compares with rates that are as much as 20 times higher for premium web sites. With advertising the lifeblood of much of the PC-based web, that has left a yawning chasm for many companies to cross before they can cash in on the latest internet boom.
Thanks in part to lower advertising rates on mobile, the average amount of money Google makes each time a user clicks on an advert has fallen in each of the last three quarters, with the decline accelerating to 16 per cent in the latest quarter. Facebook, meanwhile, revealed that the 16 per cent growth in its daily user numbers in the US and Europe in the latest quarter was entirely due to mobile, where it has just started experimenting with advertising. As a result, in the same quarter that the company made its debut on Wall Street, the number of adverts it carried in the US actually fell.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Rihanna: too raunchy for Nivea
Nivea's new CEO, Stefan Heidenreich, aired his concern about the role the 24-year-old played in modelling for the brand
"Rihanna is a no go... I do not understand how to bring the core brand of Nivea in conjunction with Rihanna" he said, explaining: "Nivea is a company which stands for trust, family and reliability."
Looks like Heidenreich, who has tasked himself with reviving Nivea's fortunes and creating a new company logo, will have to do it without the help of one of the most famous women on the planet.
"Rihanna is a no go... I do not understand how to bring the core brand of Nivea in conjunction with Rihanna" he said, explaining: "Nivea is a company which stands for trust, family and reliability."
Looks like Heidenreich, who has tasked himself with reviving Nivea's fortunes and creating a new company logo, will have to do it without the help of one of the most famous women on the planet.
Madonna Riding Virginal Russian Fitness Wave
"It's amazing to me how in less than a decade the face of fitness in Russia switched from mafia soldiers to office workers"
The fitness industry is growing by 20 percent each year, Dmitry Kalashnikov, the president of the Association of Fitness Professionals, told Rossiiskaya Gazeta.
Analysts said that there is stable demand for premium-level fitness clubs in the capital. Around 40 percent of the brands are developing in the business class segment, where the target audience is professionals 21 to 35 years old who are willing to pay up to 50,000 rubles ($1,500) for an annual gym membership.
Although the fitness industry in Russia is booming, there is still a lot of room for growth, experts said. Only 2 percent of Russians visit fitness centers, compared to 14.1 percent of the population in the United States and 6 percent in Britain.
Russian Banking - Abacus to ATM
The transformation of Sberbank into a modern financial institution
Under Mr Gref the bank has become, by nearly all measures save ownership, a modern financial institution. Profitability compares very well with European banks partly because the economic picture is brighter in Russia and partly because the bank's funding costs are so low as a result of limited competition in the regions. Sberbank has more than 70m retail customers in a country of 142m people, many of them pensioners and civil servants who worry more about safety than the interest on their deposits.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Economist Group - Lean Back 2.0
This Lean Back 2.0 blog aims to examine, discuss and track the impact that new digital reading devices, particularly tablets, are having on both reader behaviours and media businesses. It includes thinking from leading commentators across the media, publishing, advertising and technology industries.
Why do we call this blog Lean Back 2.0? The print age created a Lean Back experience with reading as a solitary, ritual pleasure. The web age introduced Lean Forward as readers began to embrace information from multiple sources, actively researching and sharing content. Tablets and eReaders are driving yet another profound change in our relationship with content. They have made reading an immersive, lean-back experience again and created new opportunities to read. This is Lean Back 2.0.
Why do we call this blog Lean Back 2.0? The print age created a Lean Back experience with reading as a solitary, ritual pleasure. The web age introduced Lean Forward as readers began to embrace information from multiple sources, actively researching and sharing content. Tablets and eReaders are driving yet another profound change in our relationship with content. They have made reading an immersive, lean-back experience again and created new opportunities to read. This is Lean Back 2.0.
Simon Kuper - Spectator Sport
It’s London, but not as we know it. The Olympics, as seen in these exclusive images by Simon Roberts, renew the entire city
I live in Paris, and on July 6 2005, the day the host of these Olympics was chosen, I stood in the crowd outside the Hôtel de Ville expecting to see my new hometown get the nod. Instead, London won, and the assembled Parisians sighed briefly before disappearing into the BHV department store for a spot of retail therapy. I was briefly disappointed too. But now I am thankful that London was named host. These Games are deepening and enriching my understanding of a city that I thought I knew. I lived in London for 15 years, but I’m now seeing it as if for the first time.
I live in Paris, and on July 6 2005, the day the host of these Olympics was chosen, I stood in the crowd outside the Hôtel de Ville expecting to see my new hometown get the nod. Instead, London won, and the assembled Parisians sighed briefly before disappearing into the BHV department store for a spot of retail therapy. I was briefly disappointed too. But now I am thankful that London was named host. These Games are deepening and enriching my understanding of a city that I thought I knew. I lived in London for 15 years, but I’m now seeing it as if for the first time.
Monday, August 6, 2012
Brand New
Emerging-market companies are trying to build global brands
Yet becoming a global brand is exceedingly hard. Emerging-market firms must struggle with limited budgets and unlimited prejudice. GfK, a consumer-research company, found that only one-third of Americans were willing even to consider buying an Indian or Chinese car. Wipro, a successful Indian outsourcer, points out that its total sales are roughly the size of IBM’s marketing budget. Only four emerging-market brands make Interbrand’s list of the world’s 100 most valuable: Samsung and Hyundai of South Korea, Mexico’s Corona beer and Taiwan’s HTC.
Facebook - Work in Progress
The stockmarket has lost no time in unfriending the social network
IT IS still gaining members—there were 955m by the end of June—but Facebook has been losing friends ever since it became a public company on May 18th. Delays in trading on the frenzied opening day were scarcely the social-networking company’s fault. But not since that first day has the share price closed above its bloated debut mark of $38; and recently it has lurched lower. It dropped by 8% after hours on July 25th when Zynga, a games company that uses Facebook as a base, reported poor quarterly results, and by another 10% after Facebook’s own figures came out the next day. It has fallen further since. On August 1st Facebook’s shares closed at $20.88, the lowest yet
IT IS still gaining members—there were 955m by the end of June—but Facebook has been losing friends ever since it became a public company on May 18th. Delays in trading on the frenzied opening day were scarcely the social-networking company’s fault. But not since that first day has the share price closed above its bloated debut mark of $38; and recently it has lurched lower. It dropped by 8% after hours on July 25th when Zynga, a games company that uses Facebook as a base, reported poor quarterly results, and by another 10% after Facebook’s own figures came out the next day. It has fallen further since. On August 1st Facebook’s shares closed at $20.88, the lowest yet
Victor Yanukovych and the media
Eventually even Victor Yanukovych, the president, voiced his concern: “It is critically important for a democratic country to protect freedom of speech and prevent pressure on media," he declared. Yet it is hard not to feel that what Mr Yanukovych is aiming for is the minimum level of freedom needed to keep international institutions quiet, and no more.
TVi should survive at least until polling day. The channel is not out of the woods yet, however. It was denied a digital licence last year. Certain cable providers are refusing to carry it. It is easy to see why the channel riles the authorities. Programmes such as Exclamation Mark routinely expose large-scale corruption (English version of one report here), while satirical shows mock the country's leaders. Its independence is guaranteed by an editorial board that includes such luminaries as Poland's Adam Michnik. Crucially, says Mr Kniazhytsky, TVi's owner has no other business interests in Ukraine.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)