Archive for May, 2007
Advertising Sales is Still Sales
A WSJ article today reported that eBay is moving ahead with Online Media Exchange, a forum for buying and selling advertising. Networks are crying foul claiming that the system will erode prices. Well, it probably will. But prices in TV advertising have been erroding for a much bigger reason…no one is watching. Or at least fewer people are. The point is that TV networks should be figuring out how to re-invent themselves to serve a changing marketplace. Video On Demand, Podcasts, Integrating Gaming with TV Programing. The old model just isn’t working.
What’s really interesting is that the article talks about networks stressing the importance of personal relationships. Online forums that commodify products are not exclusive to television. They’re coming to a wide range of industries and will recreate how we think about sales, advertising, trade shows, and loyal customers. Trying to stop these forums from existing isn’t a realistic approach to the future. Adding to the discussion with credible content is essential.
(Link to ABI White Paper: Marketing Credibility – The Difference)
Add comment May 31, 2007
Learning from Bottled Water
Never take a market for granted. In here we often talk about how to avoid becoming a commodity. But what happens when the whole bottom drops out of a market? The New York Time reported on a trend in restaurants reverting to good old fashioned tap water. The reason? Concern for the environmnet.
This is a trend in its purest form. Consumers flocked to bottled water more than a decade ago causing panic among one product soft drink producers like Coke and Pepsi. Truthfully, the bottom falling out of a trend is just a sign that another trend is on it heels. Packaging suppliers are constantly being told that price is the most important factor by their cusotmers. Bottled water just proves them wrong. After all, even if you make the cheapest water bottle out there, the market is still going to shrink. (Link.)
1 comment May 31, 2007
