March 28, 2006
how's your strategic vision, fred?
[You really need to read the comments in this post to fully understand the story behind this cartoon. Utterly bizarre.]
[BONUS LINK:] Interesting thought from Ed Byrne:
How to de-commoditise your product.People who work in traditional advertising, please take note.Why do people buy branded premium (eg. Apple) products? Why do people stay as ‘label’ (eg. Apple) customers?
Answer: It’s not the product they buy - it’s the promise of new + exciting products in the future.This is how to de-commoditise your product! This is how to move your business UP the value chain and stop having to compete on price in an un-differentiated market!
Your job is not to sell. Your job is to de-commoditise.
Amen.
Posted by hugh macleod at March 28, 2006 12:23 PM | TrackBackThought you'd like that one Hugh ... it's your business model after all going for the high-end stuff that is certainly no where near a commodity!
Posted by: Ed Byrne at March 28, 2006 2:20 PMHaving the promise of new and exciting products is a great thing to associate with a brand, but you need make the promise credible by consistently delivering such things in the present ! Otherwise it's just hype and/or excuses.
That's why some people's attribution of Apple's recent success of some kind of magic/reality distortion field phenomenon are off the mark; sure, Apple is very good at presenting what they have, but there's genuine fun and quality in what they offer.
Posted by: Robert P. Krajewski at March 28, 2006 3:15 PMWhat never gets discussed and I want to throw into the pot....to get it on the shelves you need to go through retailers the majority of the time. Brands then are competing with own label and retailers often believe their brands are more important than yours. They also make more money on their own label...therefore to get your product to retail you have to throw money at the retailer...less margin for more investment in the brand...so question is there such a thing as decommodisation unless you supply direct ?
Posted by: Farms at March 28, 2006 6:30 PMI agree with the premise but Apple is not the best example because they actually provide good value for money in terms of processing power etc and increasingly their strategy involves competing on price.
Posted by: john at March 28, 2006 8:20 PMHahaha, awesome stuff Hugh. So true!
What's up with the Scolbe-hate? I seriously don't get it. Business Acumen my ass..
Posted by: Evan Erwin at March 28, 2006 9:27 PM"You take Scoble, I'll be hiring actual business acumen, strategic vision, technical wizardry, and marketing expertise. At best, maybe I'll blow in Scoble's ear and get him to be the dancing bear."
This from a guy whose website is about parakeets. Um... er?
Posted by: Scotty at March 28, 2006 9:38 PMI just spent 45 minutes helping a friend deal with the Black Worm virus, which has made her life hell. After exhausting the patience and scope of myself and Symantec, I suggested she call a local tech support outfit. They're due to arrive tomorrow morning, when they hope to unfuck matters at $125/hour, for an estimated 3 hours. The next day she plans to go buy a Mac. She won't buy one because it's a premium brand or because she saw some advertising. She'll buy one because nobody she knows with a Mac gets viruses. That's it.
Thought: Viruses are commodities.
Posted by: Doc Searls at March 30, 2006 6:37 PM