Monthly Archives: September 2007
Apple’s Laborious Day.
I have long been a supporter of Steve Jobs and Apple. With their market-changing introduction of the iPod, I really jumped on board, but this whole pricing debacle with the iPhone was foreseeable…and avoidable.
How low can you go?
Pepsi and Coke are fierce competitors in the next wave of non-carbonated drinks. The full product lines are rich and complex starting with soda at one end, moving down through the diet sodas and enriched waters ending at plain water. In between are various shades and flavors. The problem here is that people are going to realize at some point that water is free and as we move down the food chain from soda to water — with less everything – it’s getting a little silly. It just doesn’t make sense to pay for water.
MTV
MTV is showing its crow’s feet. Those are wrinkles around the eyes for you younger readers. Here’s a franchise that blazed new trails in music, thanks to video, and has now lost much relevance. They are into many, many things today: cable TV programming, video games, movies, online portal content — I wouldn’t be surprised if they had a consumer food product in there somewhere.
The MTV Awards has been flagging in viewership the last few years and this is their biggest chance each year to be relevant. And relevant in a core business way.
Some say MVT has lost touch with kids’ media consumption habits, missing the boat in online video and social networking. I completely agree. As TV and computer morph together, you have to know that MTV wasn’t paying close attention. MySpace became the online venue of choice for small and mid-size bands. YouTube became the purveyor of online videos. And the next video platform is still being figured out and I don’t think it will have an MTV brand associated with it. (Sadly, this will be a pay-for service.)
This was, and is, all MTV’s turf. A couple of weeks ago I wrote that Volkswagen should have owned the small car, energy efficient vehicle market. It was a natural. They missed the boat too. MTV can turn its sh*t around, but it needs to hurry.
Mr. (Mattel) president.
Talk about public relations nightmares. Mattel keeps hitting the news as its toys are found to be defective. The latest word is, some toys produced in China contain lead paint.