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Hi Social Media ReInvention Community Members,
We've migrated Social Media ReInvention's website to a new WordPress site!
I made this move to improve my services to my readers. Please continue following, reading, and subscribing to my blog at our new location.
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Tony Faustino
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Farhad Manjoo of The New York Times published this thought-provoking article: Google’s Time At The Top May Be Nearing Its End. Manjoo discusses how Google’s current and past domination in desktop search advertising is leading to the source of its undoing as a technology leader.
Google’s Investor Relations Page proves Google has been an advertising company since October 2000. The company's $66 billion in 2014 revenues exceeds the respective, nominal GDPs of Luxembourg, Croatia, Uruguay, and Bulgaria.
Analysts express concern about future revenue sources driving Google’s growth:
I’m not a Google investor. But, these questions (and Google’s rising R&D and staffing expenditures) are a source of legitimate concern. Pouring tons of money into R&D doesn’t guarantee innovation.
Three Words via Deloitte’s Centre for Health Solutions: The Pharmaceutical Industry.
Facebook is not only investing in and deploying advertising tools like Conversion Lift Measurement and Facebook Atlas to measure, quantify, and validate how advertising ROI is better on its platform, but it's also increasing Facebook’s mobile advertising market share at Google’s expense.
Microsoft’s Office Suite commanded 90% of the enterprise desktop market. The problem is entreprise computing moved to mobile, cloud-based software.
So why didn’t Google Docs translate into a new and significant revenue stream (despite the fact that the stripped down version was and is still offered for free):
Google Docs had a 44-month headstart. That’s centuries in Internet time.
Why wasn’t this software invented in Google’s back yard and tailor-made for the enterprise market more than a mere blip in the Other Revenues line item of Google’s 2014 Financials?
Which brings us to this Wall Street Journal article about Memex: Sleuthing Search Engine — Even Better Than Google? Just as Steve Ballmer missed opportunities in the online and mobile market, how did Larry Page overlook a market tailor-made for an algorithm-driven, big data, technology company: Using Search to Track Down Criminals.
How did the US government create a search algorithm that’s equated to Google on steroids? Why can Memex expose 95% of what's on The Internet (while Google only shows us 5%)?
Is Google losing its edge? What’s your take on Google’s future and missed opportunities?
Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my thoughts in the comments. I would love to hear from you. I’m also here to read, listen and learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE.
Comments are open. So let’er rip!
Ideas that spread win. You can subscribe to my blog via email (and can unsubscribe any time you like). Please share my work with your friends. Many Thanks!
Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist. He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.
Photo Credit: Anton Diaz
Happy 2015! Hard to believe a new year's already here?
I found many interesting and thought-provoking articles to share this week. Thank you for supporting the Social Media ReInvention Community. Enjoy your brunch!
1. Fast Company: 14 Tips to Make 2015 Your Most Productive Year Yet. How are you doing with your New Year’s Resolutions? I’ve already slipped up. Maybe, there’s a better way: Focus on Themes Not Goals. Let's focus our efforts on one thing at a time so these changes become productive, lifelong habits.
That’s a goal worth shooting for (yes, rah-rah puns intended)!
2. Seth’s Blog: The Meritocracy Trap. Seth Godin calls out the David Sacks quote discussed in Joe Nocera’s New York Times Op-Ed piece on personal success and meritocracy — "Silicon Valley’s Mirror Effect.” Seth’s post describes the perils in achieving ultra-phenomenal success: it can lead to self-serving cultures, attitudes, and mindsets.
Seth’s and Joe’s articles make me think what I can do as a proud dad and father to two young daughters. I want the best for them. I want them to have the same opportunities (and more) my parents created for me and my sister.
That’s how this next article comes into play ...
3. WSJ Online - Digits Blog: The Year Silicon Valley Spilled Its Diversity Data. This interactive, diversity data website simply and visually explains the hiring data story behind Silicon Valley’s gender and diversity gap in The Valley’s most prestigious and successful companies:
Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my thoughts in the comments. If you disagree, I would love to hear from you. I’m also here to read, listen, and learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE. Comments are open. So let’er rip!
Ideas that spread win. You can subscribe to my blog via email (and can unsubscribe any time you like). I hope you’ll also share my work with your friends. Many Thanks!
Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist. He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.
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I love reading books. They’re my secret weapon for accessing critical thinking. Here’s a short listing of my favorite books / authors who inspired me and exhausted my Kindle in 2014 (by the author’s last name in alphabetical order). Note: Some of these titles are pre-2014.
Mitch Joel described Seth Godin's 18th book as the most beautiful illustration of Seth’s teachings. You can’t buy Seth’s latest book on Amazon (or any mainstream book retailer). You can only buy it at http://www.yourturn.link/. Beautiful, glossy images explode with color on every page. If I were a Hollywood producer, I’d pitch it as Linchpin and The Icarus Deception collide in a 20-car pile up at Mercedes Benz New York Fashion Week.
Seth calls out our schadenreude, spectator sport culture, and it’s power in curbing intelligent risk taking (except in Silicon Valley). When It's Your Turn is an in-your-face, call-to-arms, entrepreneurship manifesto. The battle cry rallies around showing up everyday, to create and ship our art. Now’s the time to revel in that uncomfortable place of “this may or may not work."
I'm moving into a new career as an entrepreneur in an early stage startup, That’s a scary leap after corporate life. But, those simultaneous feelings and fear are the right place to be:
I’m late in reading this classic marketing book. I hope to meet Seth, shake his hand, and talk marketing strategy. That requires fluency in Ideavirus terminology (i.e., sneezers - both promiscuous and powerful, the hive, persistence — not the one related to effort, vector, vacuum, amplifier, smoothness, etc.).
Ideavirus parallels Malcolm Gladwell’s idea diffusion theories from The Tipping Point and Geoffrey Moore’s insights from Crossing the Chasm. Like the Beatles music catalog, Ideavirus remains simple, timeless, and relevant.
I’m a die-hard fan and friend to Ann Handley. Last year, I published a public fan letter expressing my appreciation and respect for her work and generosity. Two weeks later, Ann sent me a signed copy of Content Rules and other great marketing books. Her attitude to give versus receive says it all.
Writing Matters. Writing with Purpose Matters More. Ann is an important inspiration for my blog post about six (6) C-Suite traits among awesome female executives who stand out. The media’s endless joy in reporting our children lag their global counterparts in the STEM 100 meter dash ignores an important fact: writing and storytelling skills propel financing for ideas and inventions.
Technical prowess and technical insight aren't enough. Creative storytelling and written communication carry equal weight (direct quote from Everybody Writes, page eight):
What’s harder is to find a book that functions for marketers as part writing and story guide, part instructional manual on the ground rules of ethical publishing, and part straight talk on some muscle-building writing processes and habits.
What’s also hard to find is a book that distills some helpful ideas about the craft of content simply and (I hope) memorably, framed for the marketer and businessperson, as opposed to say, the novelist or essayist or journalist.
I wrote this book because I couldn’t find what I wanted—part writing guide, part handbook on the rules of good sportsmanship in content marketing, and all-around reliable desk companion for anyone creating or directing content on behalf of brands.
Everybody Writes teaches disciplined practice to elevate and sustain our writing skills. Ann’s book reads like cozy conversation with her while enjoying a great cup of coffee or a couple of frosty Sam Adams beers (keep in mind, she’s a Bostonian).
Ann poured her heart and soul into this work (or as she says “gave birth to a Volkswagen”). I guarantee you’ll benefit from her knowledge, talent, and heart.
Bonus 1: Mitch Joel’s Episode #426 Six Pixel of Separation Podcast: Everybody Writes With Ann Handley.
Bonus 2: Speakers Spotlight YouTube Video — Ann Handley - Chief Content Officer | Bestselling Author.
If I could time travel to 2009, I would grab two books and my MacBook Pro before jumping into a hot tub time machine:
1. Tribes by Seth Godin
2. Platform by Michael Hyatt
If Tribes is the strategic and conceptual framework for digital leadership, Platform is the tactical roadmap for its successful execution. Creating and managing a personal brand is imperative in a crowded marketplace and recovering economy. Michael’s book unpacks the why's and how’s of building a digital platform — i.e., the collective fans who subscribe to and follow your blog, email newsletter, podcast, Twitter feed, etc.
He explains step-by-step how he built his influential online presence and to power his career as a publisher, educator, and public speaker.
Read this Wall Street Journal article by Taylor Swift (yes, that Taylor Swift). Her anecdote about an actress friend losing a movie role to another actor with a higher Twitter following extends beyond the entertainment industry. It's the heart of Michael’s book: the reach and influence of our digital platforms (or lack thereof) either rockets (or torpedoes) opportunity.
Art takes many forms (e.g., words, pictures, spreadsheets, presentations, sculptures, music, photographs, process diagrams, or anything we create with pride). These remarkable books capture Austin Kleon's philosophies and experiences on creating and promoting art. These fun, short reads answer two common questions among artists, writers, entrepreneurs, or marketers:
David Meerman Scott influences my thoughts and writing about reinventing marketing strategy every day. I fell in love with digital marketing and inbound marketing strategy after reading The New Rules of Marketing and PR five years ago. I own all of his marketing strategy books, and envy his ability to write with a rebel's heart.
When David sent me an advance copy of his latest book, I was honored and thrilled. He's leading the pack in describing how diverse organizations (from the Fortune 500, SMBs, and individual practitioners) use social selling to engage customers throughout the buying process. He published social selling success stories long before LinkedIn Sales Solutions made “social selling” in vogue.
His latest work may finally make organizations pay attention to their most valuable customers---their existing ones. Loyalty, fandom, and connection matter are game changers when fickle consumers can leave with a glance and a tap of their smartphones.
What has changed in the world of selling from David Meerman Scott on Vimeo.
LinkedIn's Economic Graph Challenge generated tremendous hype. If Jeff Weiner (LinkedIn’s CEO), can morph How to Be a Power Connector’s core principles into simple, seamless, and intuitive features, he will create the world’s most valuable social network.
Inc. Magazine selected How to Be a Power Connector as the Number 1 Business Book of 2014. I’m twenty percent through it, and I’m convinced Judy's book and Seth Godin’s What to Do When It’s Your Turn (and It’s Always Your Turn) will prove indispensable in my new career as an entrepreneur.
I usually don’t publish reviews until I’ve finished reading the book. I made an exception with How to Be a Power Connector. Judy’s 25 years of wisdom and experiences are that important. I’ve arrived at the sobering realization my networking skills are deficient. I’ve done some things well. But, I lack consistency in adding value to my business network as well as strategically assessing, prioritizing, and systematizing it.
Thank goodness that's exactly what Judy teaches! Her book will change my life. Invest in yourself by buying and studying How to Be a Power Connector. It will change your life too.
Judy Robinett Speaker Reel from Creative Realm Entertainment on Vimeo.
Change the World. Every time I hear that overused cliche from another self-appointed, Silicon Valley genius, I wanna hurl (or please insert your own Wayne’s World reference).
Study Peter Thiel’s work (and his former Stanford Computer Science 183 Startup student, Blake Masters' notes) to learn and think like the real deal. The resounding themes throughout Thiel’s book: (1) think like a contrarian; (2) question and take action against conventional wisdom:
That courage to ask and act upon, "why does it have to be this way,” drove not only Thiel's entrepreneurial successes, but also the successful ventures of Elon Musk, Reid Hoffman, Max Levchin, and other PayPal Mafia members.
As a parent, I’m making it my life’s mission to inspire the same thinking and action in my daughters.
Traction delivers a clear, how-to method supported by real-world, actionable insights. Gabriel's and Justin's interviews and case studies describe the successful execution of Traction’s Bulls Eye Methodology. Bulls Eye focuses on the second most important aspect of an early stage startup’s life cycle:
I’ve ultra-summarized the book’s thesis. Read the first three chapters of Traction for free by joining the Traction Book mailing list. If you’re a team member of an early stage startup (like myself), invest in your company’s development by studying Gabriel and Justin’s book.
Please share in the comments the digital marketing and entrepreneurship business books you read in 2014. What did you love about them? How did they inspire you?
I’m here to learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE. Comments are open. Let’er rip!
You can subscribe to my blog via email (and can unsubscribe any time you like). I hope you’ll also share my work with your friends. Many Thanks!
Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist. He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.
Photo Credit: Gerard Stolk (vers Noël)
Thank YOU. Publishing and writing for Social Media ReInvention Community Members brings me immense joy and fulfillment. I can’t thank you enough for your amazing support and generosity to read and share my content. Thank you of sticking with me for five and half years! Time's flown by.
If you missed some of these, you can check them out here:
1. Lesson 2 of 6: Reinventing You After Age 50 Case Study -- Michael Ovitz and Shifting Your Behavior
2. Mark Zuckerberg's 5 Point Plan for Facebook's Future Growth and Mobile Domination
4. 3 Career Management Lessons for a Social Media Age I Learned From My Dad
5. Lesson 3A of 6: Reinventing You After Age 50 Case Study -- Michael Ovitz and Developing Validators
6. Book Review: The New Rules of Sales and Service by David Meerman Scott
7. #FAIL: #AppleLive Debacle Exposes Apple's Real-Time Marketing Weaknesses
8. 4 More Gifts to Support Others That Power Your After Age 50 Reinvention
9. 3 Tips on Writing and Storytelling from Twitter's Investor Relations Team
10. Tim Cook's Killer Innovation Hack: Diversity in Thought in Apple's Ecosystem (with a Capital D)
That’s Kind of a Big Deal. I’m grateful because I reached that achievement through your support:
If yes, please share it with your friends and subscribe to my blog. Many Thanks!
Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist. He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.
Photo Credit: Andy Ihnatko
I'm an Apple Stockholder and Apple Tribal Member with Tremendous Confidence in Our Leader, Tim Cook. He's the right person to rocket Apple’s fanatic loyalty beyond its fanatical consumer base. Ginni Rometty, IBM’s CEO, describes Cook as the “hallmark of a modern-day CEO. It’s all about clarity of vision and knowing what to do and what not to do.”
Yet, critics shout: "Tim Cook is NOT Steve Jobs!” I disagree. Cook is a lot like Jobs.
Apple’s 21st Century Innovation Model is SICC: Simplicity + Inclusion + ControI + Collaboration
SICC Rhymes with SICK (and means the cool kind, not the feeling ill kind). Charlie Rose published his Tim Cook conversations after Apple's September 2014 introductions for the iPhone 6, iPhone 6+, Apple Pay, and Apple Watch. Their conversations reveal Cook’s strategic vision for Apple and The Apple Ecosystem. His ecosystem-driven strategy explains the rationale for two (2) major 2014 corporate decisions:
Cook explains these major decisions within the context of these central themes:
Staying Focused Anchors Apple. Cook elaborated (paraphrasing):
“Unlike other companies, Apple’s objective is not to make larger product portfolios."
“All of Apple’s major products could fit on this small table.” (in reference to Charlie Rose’s iconic interview set)
“It’s hard to edit. It’s hard to stay focused. The hard part is deciding what NOT to work on."
Diversity in Thought Fuels Apple Innovation and Design (17:13 - 20:23). Cook's leadership mission is ensuring Apple senior executives and team members collaborate at an incredible level. That mission begins with recognizing individuals who are historically strong Apple contributors. During this point in the conversation, Cook enthusiasically mentioned five to six senior executives (by first name) making considerable impacts during their Apple tenure — like Angela Ahrendts).
Brad Stone’s September 2014 BloombergBusinessweek article highlights Cook’s moves to include new perspectives at Apple. From January 2014 to September 2014, Apple hired approximately 20 senior executives from multiple industries (direct quotes below):
“(Cook) is very focused on finding a very wide range of people. It’s not automatically the way you think about diversity. It’s about bringing in experience, skill set, and perspective." — Susan Wagner, founding partner and director of asset-management firm BlackRock.
“(Cook) is comfortable enough to say ‘we need help here,’ and then he goes out and gets it.” — Jimmy Iovine, Co-Founder of Beats Electronics.
It’s the Ecosystem Stupid! (h/t James Carville)
Betting the Farm on The Apple Ecosystem. Cook’s strategic bet makes collaboration an Apple strategic imperative. Apple senior executives are functional experts who collectively work as a team. Horizontal product development enables integration of hardware, software, and services to produce a killer product. Cook explains (20:08 - 20:23; paraphrasing):
"Respecting, trusting, and complementing one another (in thought and skills) is what makes this all work."
Collaboration may be a virtue, but Cook insists it’s more of a strategic imperative. Aligning thousands of employees is crucial now that “the lines between hardware, software, and services are blurred or are disappearing,” he says (Cook). “The only way you can pull this off is when everyone is working together well. And not just working together well but almost blending together so that you can’t tell where people are working anymore, because they are so focused on a great experience that they are not taking functional views of things.”
The result is only now becoming apparent with services that work across different Apple devices. Embedded in the iPhone 6 and the new iOS 8 and Mac OS X Yosemite operating system is a feature called Continuity, which lets users start an e-mail or some other task on their Mac, pick it up on their iPhone, and then move it to their iPad or even the Apple Watch.
(Cook continues) "We would never have gotten there in the old model. These new products are reminders of why we exist.
The things we should be doing at Apple are things that others can’t.”
Google Is Apple’s Top Competitor (32:30 - 36:00). Cook’s answer to Rose’s “Who’s Your Competition?” question speaks volumes. He recognized Google twice during their conversation as Apple's most formidable competitor.
He dismissed everyone else including Samsung and Amazon. Microsoft never entered the conversation.
Larry Page makes it no secret he's pursuing an Android ecosystem-driven strategy. Google acquired Motorola Mobility in 2011 to gain control of the patents bolstering and protecting Android (and subsequent Google products and services). From Google’s Investor Relations Site, Page describes his strategic vision and rationale for selling Motorola Mobility to Lenovo):
“Lenovo has the expertise and track record to scale Motorola Mobility into a major player within the Android ecosystem. This move will enable Google to devote our energy to driving innovation across the Android ecosystem, for the benefit of smartphone users everywhere.”
Google Targets The Consumer Ecosystem. Just ask Tony Fadell, CEO and Founder of Nest. Just ask Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs’s biographer. In January 2014, Isaacson declared Google passed Apple in innovation supremacy with the Nest acquisition (refer to CNBC video below).
Matthew J. Belvedere’s CNBC article concluded Apple and Tim Cook fell behind:
While acknowledging the China Mobile partnership is a "big deal" for Apple, he said (i.e., Isaacson) Google-Nest exemplifies the "amazingly strong integrated strategy that Google has to connect all of our devices, all of our lives, from our car, to our navigation system, to how our garage doors are going to open."Isaacson also pointed out that Nest co-founder and CEO Tony Fadell will be joining Google as part of this deal. "Fadell was one of the team that created the iPod. He was very deep into the Apple culture ... when Apple was so innovative." To play catch-up, Cook has to think about what industry he wants to disrupt next, Isaacson said. "I think Steve Jobs would have wanted as the next disruptive thing to either have wearable-like watches or TV, an easy TV that you can walk into the room and say put on 'Squawk Box' … or disrupt the digital camera industry or disrupt textbooks."
"We ought to see in 2014, Apple do something huge," Isaacson said.
Google-Android Commands Global Market Share, but Apple-iOS Captures Highest Profitability. Android is the defacto global, smartphone operating system. Conner Forrest’s Tech Republic article proves Android market share dwarfs Apple-iOS by a factor of four (4). His research strengthens Isaacson’s argument how Google is positioning itself as a consumer ecosystem powerhouse:
Photo Credit: Conner Forrest, Tech Republic
But, Does Market Share Dominance Mean Google Makes More Money than Apple? Tony Bradley’s November 2013 Forbes article shows Apple dominates profitability capture versus Android. That’s why “staying focused” anchors the Apple’s core values. Though not externally stated, Jobs knew and promoted that making money matters. Making money (or in Apple’s case, tons of it) bestows the rare, parallel luxury to sustain business AND develop new innovation.
Photo Credit: Conner Forrest, Tech Republic
Photo Credit: Neil Hughes, Apple Insider
Making Tons of Money Isn’t the Point. Apple almost went bankrupt 17 years ago. That’s the age of a teenager — it wasn’t that long ago. Walt Mossberg's November 2014 <re/code> article, The Mac’s Second Act: From Obscurity to Ubiquity, lends important perspective to Apple’s current financial situation versus its dire days in 1997. Jobs knew he needed someone of Cook's supply chain and operations genius. That’s why Jobs hired Cook.
In 1998, Jobs and Apple needed Cook (not the other way around).
Photo Credit: W_Minshull
Driving Collaboration and Accessing Innovation Extends Beyond 1 Infinity Loop. The Charlie Rose-Tim Cook conversation turns instructive when Rose asks Cook if Apple is "more open (around 22:26).” Cook's responses on iOS app developer relationship management, the IBM strategic alliance, and the Beats Music and Beats Electronics acquisition signal his mantra that creativity and innovation are a team sport (App Developers: 30:20 - 32:12; IBM: 22:26 - 25:37; Beats: 26:14 - 29:00).
Apple Manages Relationships with 9 Million Registered iOS Developers. MacNN News reported the number of developers registered with Apple has increased 47 percent since last year to 9 million. According to the United States Census Bureau, if "Apple iOS Developer City” was an American city, it’s population trumps New York (with room to spare for Nashville).
Cook recognizes the iOS developer community is key to Apple’s current and future success (paraphrased quotes from Rose conversation; 30:20 - 32:12):
“The June 2014 developer’s convention was all about giving developers access to iOS so Apple and iOS have access to innovation."
“We treat working with them (i.e., the iOS developer community) that it’s Apple’s privilege."
“Our (i.e., Apple’s) developers can sell their product (i.e. iOS app) worldwide in the Apple App store in 155 countries."
Show App Developers The Money. Apple Does. Google Does Too. But, Apple developers earn tons more. Andreesen Horowitz Analyst Benedict Evans proves Apple paid app developers five times (5x) more revenue than Google. In the past 12 months, Apple paid developers $10 billion versus $5 billion by Google.
Photo Credit: Benedict Evans
Tim Cook Wants the Apple Ecosystem to Command the Enterprise Market (22:26 - 25:37). Steve Jobs transformed our daily consumer lives. Cook wants to reinvent our daily professional lives. That’s the mission objective for uniting with IBM, a former adversary. Cook shared with Rose the following anecdotes (paraphrasing):
“We believe we can change the way people work at an enterprise level."
“The vision is to fulfill the unmet needs of the industry verticals down to the granular specificity of the job itself."
“We can change the way people work. We spend so much of our lives working."
Reuters reports the Apple-IBM alliance is developing inroads into the financial services industry (e.g., companies like CitiGroup). Furthermore, the same Reuters article states:
"The iPhone maker has worked closely with a group of startups, including ServiceMax and PlanGrid, that already specialize in selling apps to corporate America. The two people familiar with the plans, but who could not speak publicly about them, say Apple is already in talks with other mobile enterprise developers to bring them into a more formal partnership."
A Play for The Enterprise Version of The Internet of Things? Sounds like it to me. Now, that would be both transformative and lucrative. Stay tuned. I’m looking forward to learning about the Apple-IBM alliance’s penetration and progress after Q1 2015 (even more than the Apple Watch Launch).
On the Surface, Beats Masquerades as a Headphone Company. Unseen by the deal’s critics is how Tim Cook discovered powerful and influential diversity in thought.When Rose asked Cook, “Why did you buy a headphones company?” he responded (26:14 - 29:00):
“Talent. It’s the idea of gaining great talent."
“The creative genius of Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre."
“Iodine’s deep knowledge of the entertainment vertical (i.e., music industry)"
“Dr. Dre knows artists and is an artist."
Cook Recognizes Remarkable Human Centered Design (HCD) When He Sees It, Hears It, and Feels It. Cook shared with Rose how “not all subscription services are alike.” His enthusiasm in describing Beats Music after experiencing it himself is palpable (paraphrasing):
“Beats recognized the importance human curation can make in how you feel and experience something."
“It (Beats) affects how you feel."
“You know it when you see it and feel it.
Jimmy Iovine Nails It Why the Apple-Beats Deal Is Smart. Apple is about feel and emotional connection. That why the Apple Tribe continues shelling out big bucks to replacing their perfectly working iPhones with more expensive ones at a record pace. Check out Iovine’s commentary on feel, the state of the music industry, and why he believes Apple and Beats are primed to transform it. I can’t wait to see the impact of his influence at Apple in its future product development:
Strategy+Business’ Matt Egol and Christopher Vollmer Argue Why Apple Bet Big on Beats Music’s HCD Intangibles. Egol's and Vollmer’s article describes how both companies focus on delivering an amazing HCD experience. The critics who say this deal is the tipping point for Apple’s inevitable innovation demise fail to recognize this fact. Here’s an excerpt their article:
The story behind the deal is much more nuanced, however. It’s not just about those tangible assets (referring to Beats’ headphone and streaming music platform), but rather a really big bet on capabilities—especially in product development, marketing, and branding. The fact that Beats has achieved a 59 percent share of the high-end headphone market in the United States and launched a high growth, buzz-worthy streaming service demonstrates the power of HCD principles at work.Apple is well positioned to accelerate this momentum, given its own commitment to HCD.
Photo Credit: Gideon Tsang
Cook’s critics point to the Beats acquisition as a leading indicator of Apple’s inevitable demise because it "no longer innovates from within.” Nonsense.
The Cautionary Tale and Parallel Paths of Apple and Merck as Fortune Magazine's Most Admired Companies. From 1987 - 1993, the pharmaceutical company, Merck, graced the covers of Fortune Magazine’s Most Admired Company issues as the Number 1 company in corporate reputation. In 1994, the company tumbled to Number 11. Merck’s CEO at that time, P. Roy Vagelos, declared the company would return to Number 1 (direct quote from Fortune’s Most Admired Companies February 7, 1994 article):
''WE WERE the first company to be selected No. 1 seven years in a row. My plan is that we'll be the first company to bounce back."
So says Dr. P. Roy Vagelos, CEO of Merck, no longer America's most admired corporation. A year of economic turbulence, plus a far more extensive survey of companies, has produced a new crop at the top, with half of America's ten most admired corporations newcomers to that elite group.
The long-reigning king is deposed, relegated to No. 11.
Vagelos’ Bold Proclamation Never Materialized. Merck’s 2014 Fortune Most Admired Company Ranking is Number 65 (in 2013, it was Number 58). Why’s this important? For seven (7) consecutive years, Merck was Apple.
Guess Who Fortune Magazine Ranked as The Most Admired Company in 2014? Guess who's monopolized this title for seven (7) straight years since 2008? Apple. But, the similarities end there. How Merck chose to sustain innovation in its “Year 7” (and beyond) proves instructive.
Merck Caved to Not-Invented-Here Syndrome. John Simons, February 2008 Fortune article explores Merck’s research and development insularity post-1994:
"Merck's scientific excellence had long inspired admiration and envy; corporate leaders voted it America's Most Admired Company in Fortune from 1987 to 1993. By the early part of this decade, however, Merck was finding it difficult to turn its science into new, profitable medicines. In Merck's case, there was a unique element added to what was an industrywide drought."
"Merck was so pleased and proud to be Merck that its research culture had become haughty and insular. The company refused to consider medicines discovered outside its own labs and spurned the mergers and research alliances that were reshaping the industry."
To Peter Kim’s credit, President of Merck Research and Development from 2003 - 2013, Merck reversed its attitude course. The Simons article continues:
"By late 2004, Kim had overseen a new system that allows scientists to mine scientific literature to identify promising chemical compounds. He also encouraged Merck scientists to use their connections to open doors for Merck's acquisitions department
"In 1999, Merck entered into just ten collaborative licensing deals; by 2006, there were 53 joint-development transactions and small acquisitions."
10 years passed before Merck transformed its strategic thinking towards developing and accessing innovation. In three (3) short years, Cook’s decisiveness and focus proves what happened to Merck will not happen under his “Apple Watch” as CEO.
The Tim Cook Leadership Era Means the “I” in Innovation Means "Inclusion Inspires.” That cultural pillar extends far beyond sexual orientation. He’s driving cultural and strategic shifts at Apple to sustain and grow a core Jobs-Apple value (10:37 - 12:04): “To Be the Best.”
When Your Competitor is “The Most Ambitious CEO in The Universe,” You Better Continue Reinventing and Transforming. Talent isn’t enough. Company culture drives innovation and competitive advantage.
Here are two amazing books on the significant impact of company culture:
Will Tim Cook Continue Being Criticized for Not Being Steve Jobs? Yes. When you succeed an icon and legend, that’s a given. But, Cook won’t blink twice. He described to Rose his skill in “blocking out and filtering the noise.” (20:59 - 22:05)
Tim Cook Bets His Legacy and the Apple Ecosystem on “The Corporate Internet of Things.” That’s a massive pivot for a company whose past successes are rooted in consumer fanaticism. But, Cook has no interest in “following the herd.” Cook described to Rose why he decided to leave Compaq and join Apple in 1998 (36:13 - 37:00; paraphrased):
"Well I’m just thinking I’m going to meet him and all of a sudden he’s talking about his strategy and his vision (i.e., Jobs), and what he was doing was going 100 percent into consumer. When everybody else in the industry had decided you couldn’t make any money on consumers so they were headed to services and storage and enterprise. And I thought, I’d always thought that following the herd was not a good thing, that it was a terrible thing to do right? You’re either going to lose big, or lose, but those are the two options."
"He was doing something totally different.” (referring to Jobs)
Not Following the Herd. Questioning Conventional Wisdom. Being the Best. Sounds a lot like:
Photo Credit: Apple Website on October 5, 2011
Thank you for taking time to stop by. Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my thoughts in the comments. If you disagree, I would love to hear from you. I’m also here to read, listen, and learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE.
Comments are open. So let’er rip!
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Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist. He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.
Share-worthy links Social Media ReInvention Community Members can enjoy during Sunday brunch:
1) eMarketer: Second Screening During TV Time—It's Not What You Think. The television industry (and myself) thought associating Twitter #hashags with its programming increased higher audience engagement and participation. Wrong.
Check out this Facebook post detailing the Millward Brown Digital Study, From One Screen to Five: The New Way We Watch TV. Facebook collaborated with Millward Brown on the study.
This stat caught me by surprise (maybe it shouldn't). The number one ranked "second screen" competing for our time and attention isn't Facebook, Twitter, another social network, etc.
It's email.
eMarketer is publishing a detailed report on our television and social media viewing habits called, “Simultaneous Media Use: Screen Fragmentation Complements Traditional Channels.” Here's a direct quote from the eMarketer article:
The takeaway is that a major portion of digital activity during TV shows has nothing to do with the show or the commercials. People simply drift away from the program and do other activities on their devices. This represents a transformation in the role of television from being a focal point to being just one of many screens competing for attention.
We're an iTV and Roku family (dumped cable months ago). Maybe, that's why I don't tweet, like, or post while watching tv. I'm focusing on the show (a rare treat).
2) McKinsey Quarterly: Tom Peters on Leading The 21st Century Organization. I'm a huge Tom Peters fan. At 71, he's still a rebel with a cause. I love and respect his candid and forthright views about developing and understanding an awareness of power, influence, and politics in organizations.
That's how change takes place in The Fortune 500. Change takes place by influencing and developing political allies (one person at a time).
Here are direct quotes from the article:
Change is about recruiting allies and working each other up to have the nerve to try the next experiment. You find allies. You encircle the buggers.
You don’t bring about change in real big meetings or virtual meetings. You bring it about one person at a time, face to face—when we discover we have some common interests and we’re both pissed off, say, at too many CEOs who talk about charts and boxes. And so we create a conspiracy.
Bonus 1: Mitch Joel's recent podcast with Tom Peters.
Bonus 2: My post, Tom Peters Personal Branding Lessons, Part 1: Why YOUR Blog Matters. Mr. Peters linked to this post and cites it on his Media Sightings Page.
3) Brynne Tillman and The LinkedIn Challenge #thelinkedinchallenge. Brynne's LinkedIn Posts on Social Selling and maximizing LinkedIn's utility and power in our professional lives never cease to amaze me. She's a bona fide subject matter expert in her field.
Her creativity to create and initiate #thelinkedinchallenge is genius. It's a clever take on the #ALSChallenge. The purpose: connect and introduce two (2) Linked connections who can benefit from each other.
I participated right off the bat. Here's my Twitter conversation with Brynne:
4) John Mack and The Pharma Marketing Blog: #mHealtMobile Chat Takeaway: Pharma Must Involve Patients Early on When Developing Mobile Health Apps. Last week, I participated in the #mHealthPharma Tweetchat. John lead and moderated 45 global participants!
And, he performed brilliantly.
I first discovered the initial discussion thread in this LinkedIn Group: Mobile Health Global. The topic centered on this question: "What stands in the way of pharma developing high quality mobile health apps?" This is the headline of our first debate.Participate in it here since the 25th of September. John Mack will moderate it!
I love discovering LinkedIn Discussion Groups like this one! I virtually met and conversed with smart, passionate, and thought-provoking people in the LinkedIn Group and the #mHealthPharma Tweetchat.
Here are links to their Twitter Profiles:
Check out Teresa Bau's Storify presentation. I have to learn how to do this because it's pretty cool:
If yes, please share it with your friends and subscribe to my blog. Many Thanks!
Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist. He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.
Share-worthy links Social Media ReInvention Community Members can enjoy during Sunday brunch:
1) MarketingLand: Up Close: Ello, The New Social Network That Is So Hot Right Now. I read / curated many articles on Silicon Valley's latest social networking sweetheart. Martin Beck's comprehensive review is a must-read:
2) Fast Company: LOVE POST-IT NOTES? YOU'LL LOVE THIS NEW PRODUCTIVITY APP THAT DIGITIZES THEM. 3-M developed this brilliant iPhone app, Post-it(R) Plus.
I'm a visual person. Post-It(R) Notes are my storyboarding savior (colleagues say I have an illness and should seek professional help).
3) TechCrunch: Closing The Gaps In Mobile Health. Dan Pelino's piece describes the IBM-Apple value proposition and long term implications of the Apple econsystem in a real-world example. Look out healthcare this strategic alliance wants to disrupt your industry. Their solutions will focus on physicians and patients.
And, speaking of IBM ...
4) Fortune: IBM CEO Ginni Rometty Gets Past the Big Blues. IBM's first female CEO shares her thoughts on the Apple alliance and her strategic vision for Big Blue's latest transformation:
5) Budweiser: Global Be(er) Responsible Day | “Friends Are Waiting” Campaign. The #FriendsAreWaiting spot to discourage drunk driving is storytelling brilliance in 60 seconds or less (almost). This video hits all the right notes: emotional, memorable, conflict, and resolution. Somewhere, Pixar creatives are smiling.
If yes, please share it with your friends and subscribe to my blog. Many Thanks!
Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist. He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.
After reading David Meerman Scott's blog post on Silver Oaks Cellars (it's also published here on LinkedIn), I checked out their website to learn which social media channels anchor their digital marketing strategy. I discovered a remarkable, content marketing strategy sharing three (3) types of visual stories emotionally connecting:
1. Special moments with amazing products (as described in David's post).
2. Remarkable people who craft amazing products.
3. Beautiful locations and special moments with amazing products and remarkable people.
Silver Oak Cellars unifies and tells these visual stories through multiple social channels:
Here's a look at how Silver Oak Cellars uses their visual, multi-channel social media strategy to emotionally connect special moments with their audience.
When I combed through Silver Oaks Cellars multiple social channels, these visual stories emotionally connected with me. That emotional connection differentiates a brand, a service, a product, or a company from its competition.
And, that emotional connection is unique for each of us. That unique, individual meaning defines special moments.
How do you emotionally connect with your audience? What works for you? Is it images, video, words, voice, or something else?
Please let me know in the comments. I want to connect too.
If yes, please share it with your friends and subscribe to my blog. Many Thanks!
Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist. He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.
Facebook released its 2014 Q2 earnings report on July 23rd. Here are some mind-boggling financial performance factoids from Reed Albergotti's Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article:
Remember concerns about Facebook arriving late to the mobile advertising party two years ago? How quickly sentiments can change. Here's Reed Albergotti's Wall Street Journal (WSJ) video review of Facebook's Q2 2014 financial performance:
I've reviewed numerous articles explaining how and why Facebook continues transforming and reinventing itself under Mark Zuckerberg's visionary leadership (including but not limited to):
Noticeable patterns / themes in these articles give clues to Facebook's and Zuckerberg's long term corporate strategy.
Here's my take on the Mark Zuckerberg / Facebook 5-Point Plan for Future Growth and Mobile Dominance:
Zuckerberg described in his July 2014 WSJ article how roughly 2.7 billion people currently have Internet access. That sounds like a lot, but the majority of the world lacks connectivity. He knows Facebook's future growth is tied to increasing and sustainable investment in wireless infrastructure. The phrase "a rising tide lifts all boats" takes on significant implications not only for Facebook but also for its competitors.
Here are some key quotes from his article:
"Bringing the other two-thirds of the world online will enable them to invent and create new things that benefit us, too."
"Not only do the vast majority of people have no access to the Internet, but even more surprisingly, Internet adoption is growing by less than 9% each year. That's very slow considering how early we are in its development and that rate is only slowing further."
"The challenge for our industry will be to develop models for Internet access that make data more affordable while enabling mobile operators to continue growing and investing in a sustainable way. Efforts like Internet.org -- a global partnership founded by Facebook and other technology leaders --are already under way to solve this by working with operators to provide free basic Internet services to people."
Here's a great 2013 CNN interview with Zuckerberg describing Internet.org (my apologies for any commercials preceding the interview):
Flurry (the mobile ad and analytics firm Yahoo recently acquired for $200 - $300 million) says mobile users spend 17% of their time on their phones in Facebook's app. This metric shows Facebook's mobile app is the most popular app on iOS and Android devices. Facebook's Q2 2014 Quarterly Financial Reporting slides show a consistent, steady climb in daily and monthly mobile users:
Zuckerberg knows consumers live in a mobile, one-screen world. The only screen users care about is the one in front of them. That's why Facebook's mobile apps have to deliver simple, fast, and seamless user experiences.
Based on these mobile user numbers and the percentage of Q2 2014 revenues generated from mobile advertising, Zuckerberg and Facebook nailed it. And, speaking of killer, seamless, mobile apps ...
In April 2012, Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion. They recently acquired WhatsApp for $19 billion in February 2014. March 2014 marked the acquisition of Oculus VR (a virtual reality headset company) for $2 billion.
Zuckerberg views virtual reality as the next communication platform. It will be fun to track how Facebook leverages Oculus' technologies beyond gaming. Until then, here's a graphic from Austin Carr's Fast Company article showing the 700 million Instagram and WhatsApp users resulting from these acquisitions:
Zuckerberg's brainchild employees 7,000 people. Even at Facebook, creativity and innovation slowed under increasing bureaucracy and jockeying for resources (in both talent and money). Stringent metrics and timelines meant new products had little time to improve post-launch.
That's why Creative Labs is vital to Facebook's future innovations (and talent retention). Zuckerberg created it as a separate division in February 2014. It operates outside of Facebook's traditional product management processes with looser time constraints. That level of freedom and "small-team feeling" produced Paper, the mobile app for reading an responding to the News Feed.
Even Facebook "likes" innovations from skunkworks -- cool twist or reinvention of The Hacker Way.
Facebook's successful foray into Mobile App Install Ads, and the experiments it's running with the Facebook Buy Button show how simplifying the consumer buying process results in higher conversion (and that elusive digital marketing ROI).
It's mobile phone, 1-Click Shopping:
In Austin Carr's Fast Company article describing the resounding success of Facebook's mobile app install ads, developers love this advertising medium because:
This advertising medium has resulted in 350 million app installations (Carr estimates this equates to almost $1 billion in revenue). He cites one mobile gaming CEO who invests 75% of his marketing budget in Facebook mobile install app ads because they drive $70,000 in revenues per day.
If the experiments with the Buy Button prove fruitful, Facebook can validate the ROI value of digital marketing in not only building awareness, but also in converting eCommerce sales. Here are direct quotes from the experts:
Debra Aho Williamson of eMarketer:
"With this step, Facebook is becoming even more firmly established as a major player in direct response advertising, and though this test is still only a test, it's a definite sign that Facebook wants to restart its efforts to become an e-commerce company as well."
"If the test is successful and rolls out, Facebook could eventually earn money on the feature by charging a fee or revenue share in exchange for processing payment and improving conversion rates. It could also use the purchases to prove return on investment to advertisers, encouraging them to buy bigger campaigns."
Mark Zuckerberg is the next Steve Jobs (along with Sergey Brin and Larry Page). I was publicly criticized for making that statement more than three years ago. He is a visionary leader. Remember how Facebook originally started out as a desktop application? That's what makes its reinvention as an industry leader and emerging pioneer in the mobile space so impressive.
And, it only took two (2) years! I can't wait to see what's next as Zuck & Company keep moving fast and breaking things.
If yes, please share it with your friends and subscribe to my blog. Many Thanks!
Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist. He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.
Inbound Marketing Certified Professional and Author, Social Media ReInvention Blog
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