The specks of light are unmistakeable
April 30th, 2009
We hate and we love
It’s not often that greenshootsblog.com is in two minds about things. Usually we’re single-minded in our appreciation of positive business stories, that will encourage us to keep going as we try to get through these undoubtedly tough times. And it’s even less often that we’d take on such august publications as the Economist, but in this instance we find ourselves unable to stay silent.
First, where we see eye-to-eye. In one of its leaders last week, A glimmer of hope, we were delighted to see the quote that we’ve been pleased to borrow for the header of this post. Also that “two thirds of the 42 stockmarkets” that they track are “up” that week, reports of China’s economy picking up, the slump in global manufacturing easing as well as property markets in the US and UK “showing signs of life”. Exactly the sort of news we love to share.
Then where we part company. When discussing the ongoing dangers that remain, the newspaper questioned how to cope and suggested that it was “certainly not by clutching at scraps of good news” that greenshootsblog.com started to take umbridge. The (simplified) gist of their argument was that this would prevent, rather than encourage the world to take action.
Perhaps the fine newspaper should spend a little more time talking to people actually dealing with the issues, rather than dealing with people who are just talking about them. From where we stand, this sort of good news is what encourages those of us trying to make things better to try a little harder – and that perhaps, just perhaps it might be working.
So for that reason we will both agree and disagree with The Economist this time.
- No Comments »
- Posted in Economic Analysis
With a clear, vested interest in staying in over going out it seems a prime time to release new broadcast product innovation. From June, Sky is planning on adding long ads to its on-demand service, this time via the green button – thus stealing away people from sites such as IMDB. Setanta is planning a move to online with Setanta-i, meaning that its keen sprots subscribers need only pay £2.99 to use the service online. Watch this space…
The last decade has been dominated with talk of how to convince people to dedicate their time towards being interested in whatever you’re trying to get them to consume. However as countless articles have begun to state we may be shifting towards a paradigm of attention as the commodity of choice that we ask consumers to exchange. Countless facts may be fired off about how many marketing messages the average person is exposed to but how many actually take root and hold away? An excellent example of understanding motivational marketing and talking to people when and how they want is the recent increase in popularity of Swedish music platform, Spotify. This has taken advantage of the business model in the culture of free in order to look at new ways to help brands get a hold of consumer’s attention. The free model of subscription to a vast library of music at the expense of being forced to listen to adverts has proven particularly popular with unofficial figures having sign up at 1.5 million with 40,000 average new users a day. With large distributors and brands already on board the next move is rumoured to be mood advertising with adverts matched to the music the user is listening to – see opportunities open up such as films to soundtracks, events to “feel good” music ad infinitum.
Celebrity in the last ten years has become a somewhat muddied term. The traditional association of talent with fame has become increasingly distant, and with this decrease in traditional talent has been an increased desire to knock people down. However a coupling of a return to more traditional values harnessed with available technology may see a shift in this trend. The talent case in point would be the recent viral phenomenon of Susan’s Boyle performance on “Britain’s got Talent.” As for the knock down effect, the popularity of the Lindsay Lohan self mockery treatment on “Funny or Die” speaks for itself. With the numerous negative effects of the dissemination of celebrity in the last ten years, perhaps we are witnessing the power of the online force to revert to a less cynical approach to what we value from our stars, which I think can only be a good thing.
Marketing Magazine 
Just when you thought the iPhone could not get any better, Apple have announced the release of Skype on their application store. The application will allow iPhone users to make free phone calls to other Skype users over a wireless connection. For anyone who makes regular long distance or international calls, this truly is an important innovation in the smart phone market, and has also opened up a new dimension to second generation iPod Touch models. The latest models have in-built microphones that, when used in conjunction with the new Skype application over a wireless connection, will transform the popular music gadget into an internet phone. Very handy.
