Think

Gamesmanship

Collection of modern safety razors: Gillette F...
Image via Wikipedia

It’s like playing chess only with companies.

Quick story:

In the 80’s Gillette and BIC battled out market share for the disposable lighter. They each had their own product, and each tried to outsell and out perform the other.

Gillett’s solution to compete with BIC was to completely stop making lighters. Let me repeat. In order to make more money, they would make less product.

So what happened? BIC reallocated their resources into this new, non-competitive landscape, while Gillette reallocated their resources to their disposable razor product. The disposable razor blade market was much greater the than the disposable lighter market.

Gillette: 1st move

BIC: 2nd reactionary move

Gillette: Checkmate

This thought process is called Gamesmanship and there are 3+ orders of thinking:

0th order: You do something because you want to, without considering what your competition might do.

1st order: You do something while thinking about your competition.

2nd order: You do something to try and manipulate your competition.

3rd order: You do something to try and manipulate your competitors against one another.

There are all sorts of great ways to think about this stuff and even associate real value with a move you might make. See Alex Van Putten.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Gamesmanship Read More »

It feels good to be in Tech

With the economy declining, one thing is certain: Innovation will lead to good products and services, and good products and services will lead to revenue. This could not be more true in the technology world.

It doesn’t matter what you are doing, as long as you continue to innovate and prove value in a market (good or bad), you can and will succeed. 

This is a great presentation that outlines the harsh reality of our current economy as it relates to technology. Financials meet Tech. Great stuff.

Mary Meeker Web 2.0 Presentation

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: advertising web)
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

It feels good to be in Tech Read More »

Business Cards, Contacts and Services

My social Network on Flickr, Facebook, Twitter...
Image by luc legay via Flickr

The saying goes, “It’s not about what you know, but who you know”.

While I do not completely agree, there is some truth to this saying. Connectedness and networking matters. It matters a lot. The internet has made it easier than ever to enhance your current network of friends, colleagues, or like-minded individuals. Networking can and will increase your chances of success.

The business card, phone number, or email, just doesn’t cut it anymore. As a worker in the knowledge era, you should be leveraging the social internet to the fullest extent. Your personal brand or image is no longer reflected by just your in-person image. It now extends across the web. How are you developing your personal brand or identity?

Consider the following web services and ideas. How could they help increase your networking potential?

Of course, in-person networking matters, and will always be important. I’ll be at AdTech NY today and tomorrow doing just that.

 

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Business Cards, Contacts and Services Read More »

We are the Hip Hop Generation

“I Love Hip Hop” cover
Image via Wikipedia

There was Rock and Roll, Billy Joel, Greatful Dead, Allman Brothers….and then there was Hip Hop. Our generation has grown up with Hip Hop, and along with technology and a few other big cultural game changers, it has defined our time. Our generation.

With the election right around the corner, it seems as if EVERYONE has a say about these candidates and this election. But will the younger voters make it to the voting booths (And I don’t mean the young voters in the video)? My friend is currently exploring this very issue, and it is called Project Youthanized. The issue of apathy within our generation.

It is amazing how many people I know weigh in on the election, yet could not or did not make it out to the primaries. Will they make it out on Nov 4?

Thanks to Jake S for sharing this video.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxlwYP0HNdc[/youtube]

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

We are the Hip Hop Generation Read More »

It’s amazing how far we’ve come

A Computer Generated photo of what the Earth w...
Image via Wikipedia

Think about it.

  • A black man may become president of the United States
  • Google and Apple have created devices that are mini movie theaters, maps, newspapers, cameras and so much more
  • I can have conversations with all of my friends at one time via Facebook, Twitter, and Social Media
  • We have power plants that use wind, sun, and the ocean to create energy
  • People have electronic devices installed inside their chest to control their heart rate
  • There is medicine to help people sleep, concentrate, lose weight, and lose pain
  • We can take pictures, in real time, of your brain, bones, muscles, and tissue
  • We can communicate wirelessly from anywhere in the world
  • There are planes that can take paying customers to outer space

I can go on and on.

As the economy begins to slow down, I can’t help but to think about how far we have come and how much further we are going to go.

Recession? Acceleration!

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

It’s amazing how far we’ve come Read More »

Building a farm, planting a tree.

Runaway Productions, LLC

You can teach someone how to pick an apple from a tree or you can teach someone how to plant an apple tree.

I planted an apple tree about 3 years ago, when I started a college marketing company called Runaway Productions. Although my personal and direct involvement was extensive, educational and rewarding, the greatest reward came thereafter. I had recent conversations with its new owners, and they are now generating more revenue, breaking new ground, and expanding the original business model.

It may be easy to build something for the short term and for self serving purposes. That in itself may be rewarding. But when you can build something and watch it grow even after you’ve left, you can really experience a much deeper sense of gratification and accomplishment.

Try it. What’s the worst that can happen?

Building a farm, planting a tree. Read More »

Well we’re living here in Allentown

As I was driving home the other night from Vermont, I was listening to some Billy Joel. The song Allentown came on, and I could not help but to think how disappointingly appropriate the song is for the current times. Today was a mess.

Well we’re living here in…the United States…

Well we’re living here in Allentown
And they’re closing all the factories down
Out in Bethlehem they’re killing time
Filling out forms
Standing in line.

Well our fathers fought the Second World War
Spent their weekends on the Jersey Shore
Met our mothers at the USO
Asked them to dance
Danced with them slow
And we’re living here in Allentown.

But the restlessness was handed down
And it’s getting very hard to staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay
aaaaaaah aaahhhhh ooooooooh ooooooh ohhhhhhh.

Well we’re waiting here in Allentown
For the Pennsylvania we never found
For the promises our teachers gave
If we worked hard
If we behaved.

So the graduations hang on the wall
But they never really helped us at all
No they never taught us what was real
Iron and coke,
Chromium steel.

And we’re waiting here in Allentown.
But they’ve taken all the coal from the ground
And the union people crawled awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah aaaaaaaaaaah aaaaaah.

Every child had a pretty good shot
To get at least as far as their old man got.
If something happened on the way to that place
They threw an American flag in our faaaaaaaace, oh oh oh.

Well I’m living here in Allentown
And it’s hard to keep a good man down.
But I won’t be getting up todaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy
aaaaaaaaaaah aaaaaaaaaaah aaaaaaaaah.

GUITAR SOLO

aaaaaaah aaaaaaah aaaaaaah oh oh oh.

And it’s getting very hard to staaaaaaaaaaaaaay.

And we’re living here in Allentown.

Well we’re living here in Allentown Read More »

The internet is growing up. Please welcome NYTimes to Social Media and the Social Internet

Consider this (courtesy of Wikipedia):

  • September 18, 1851 – The New York Times was founded (although originally named New-York Daily Times).Newspaper.
  • 1995 – The Times has a strong web presence and is ranked one of the top sites. The content is generated by the Times staff.
  • March, 2005 – The New York Times Website has 555 Million page views. Content is still generated by Times staff.
  • 2008 – The domain nytimes.com attracts at least 146 million visitors annually according to a Compete.com study. The Times website ranks 59th by number of unique visitors, with over 14 million unique visitors in August 2008. 
  • June, 2008 – New York Times launches a Beta version of TimesPeople allowing users to connect, share, comment, and review items and content within the NYT site. A social network within the content driven site.

From TimesPeople:

“TimesPeople is a new way to discover what other readers find interesting on NYTimes.com — and to make recommendations of your own. With TimesPeople, you can share articles, videos, slideshows, blog posts, reader comments, and ratings and reviews of movies, restaurants and hotels.”

When we say “social media”, we should really be saying the “social internet”. The internet as a whole is beginning to harness the power of profiles, user generated content, and the social graph. Websites that have traditionally been known for publishing content, are now realizing the importance of social interactions and engagement.

The consumers are the content creators. The creators are the consumers. And now, organizations that have built hugely successful businesses with content creation as its core competency, are adapting to the ever increasing demand for social interactions and collective, community based content creation/sharing.

In The Power of Profiles post by Fred Wilson:

While I am sure the people who work at the New York Times think of themselves as a content company first and foremost, what goes on at the New York TImes website is as much about software as it is about content. And slowly but surely the Times online is becoming social software. That’s a big deal.

The internet is growing up. We are all adopting and evolving with the changing times. Please welcome The New York Times to Social Media and the Social Internet.

NOTE: This article can also be found @ LotameLearnings

The internet is growing up. Please welcome NYTimes to Social Media and the Social Internet Read More »

Scroll to Top