Monthly Archives: April 2008
GM Can’t Spin
I’m sure they’d prefer to be holding press conferences and issuing press alerts about some brand new energy efficient models and efforts in alternative fuels, but noooooo. GM is in the papers for announcing cutting car models that nobody wants.
Web 2.0 Expo — Old and New School.
Just got back from Web Expo 2.0 in San Francisco. Zude had a booth and it was packed all three days, and even one night with Robert Scoble stopping by http://scobleizer.com/2008/04/24/exclusive-first-look-at-new-zude-mashup-capabilities/. Zude is a social computing platform that lets users of any technical stripe create and manage their own web presence. Web 2.0 Expo is an enterprise show favoring IT types, so it was pretty cool to see all the people lined up at the booth interested in our consumer web application.
Two Americas?
I’m in San Francisco at Web 2.0 Expo and the price of regular is a millipede under $4.00. Yesterday’s newspaper reported that MacDonald’s monthly same store sales slowed for the first time in 5 years. Hmmmm. So, I posit, the price of gas and the lagging economy are taking a toll on the lower rungs of the demographic ladder. Less $4.00 lunches due to $4.00 gallons of gas.
Today’s paper says Apple had its best quarter ever. Mac sales are soaring. The iPod category is maturing, so says Apple defensively, sales were somewhat flat. They only sold 10.9 million units this quarter. Yahoo reported strong earnings and I keep hearing luxury car ads on the radio. Okay, they are used luxury car ads, but luxury nonetheless.
The Economist says explorers may have found the third largest oil source in Brazil and that scares me.
We need a new president.
Newsday’s Upside
The General News Journal
Stop watering down Coke.
Questions As Ideas.
HSBC is a bank among banks. Their branding idea, however, is actually pretty inventive. It struck me first when viewing some wonderful outdoor advertising in NYC. Developed by JWT, the outdoor showed the same picture multiple times with alternating headlines. One series showed the same colorful shot of a piece of sushi. Beneath one shot was the word “tasty” the next the word “nasty.”
The idea behind the advertising is points-of-view alter everything. I spoke with the planner at JWT who confirmed that the bank is “digging deeper with customers” to really know what’s on their minds. This one execution did a great job of conveying that premise. Most banks say things like “our bankers get to know you like neighbors” or some other fluff, but that claim is so stale it doesn’t process. HSBC’s spin is fresh.