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New York Times, October 5, 2009 — Humans instinctively sort and classify things. It’s how we make sense of a complex world.
So when companies develop innovative products and services that don’t obviously fit into established categories, managers need to help people understand what comparison to make.
Advertising Age, May 13, 2009 — Don't look now, but the Walkman's back.
Actually, the device that virtually created the portable-music market never left; it's been around as a player for cassettes, CDs and digital music in one form or another since 1979. According to Sony, the company produced 150 million Walkman units during its heyday in 1995. But in recent years, the device has all but fallen off the map thanks to missteps by Sony and huge advances by Apple's iPod, which has a stranglehold on the digital-music market. Still, Sony will seek to leverage its brand legacy once again with the launch of the Walkman X, a product that comes closer to the iPod line than ever before.
Prophet, February 6, 2009 — Sony's three silos thwarted their efforts to create a new category and preempt Apple's iPod. It is likely that a product that combined the energies, resources, and customer insights of the three silos and was improved over time would have been successful and that the iPod opening would not have materialized. (Marketing Daily)
Wall Street Journal, December 10, 2008 — A small Boston-area company backed by venture capitalists won a contract from Hewlett-Packard Co. to make batteries that will be sold as so-called green power supplies for laptop computers.
The contract awarded to Boston Power Co. marks a rare inroad for a U.S. company in the rechargeable-battery business for consumer electronics. Japan's Sony Corp., Sanyo Electric Co. and Panasonic Corp. dominate the world-wide market.
New York Times, December 10, 2008 — Making videos for YouTube — for three years a pastime for millions of Web surfers — is now a way to make a living.
One year after YouTube, the online video powerhouse, invited members to become “partners” and added advertising to their videos, the most successful users are earning six-figure incomes from the Web site. For some, like Michael Buckley, the self-taught host of a celebrity chatter show, filming funny videos is now a full-time job
cNet News, December 2, 2008 — Whenever I read a Sony or Microsoft press release or meet with company representatives, they're quick to point out that Nintendo's Wii console isn't a competitor. Why? They claim it's because the Wii does gaming differently and is more of a "casual" platform than a "true" gaming console.
New York Times, November 11, 2008 — Hotels are under such pressure to keep up with their gadget-obsessed guests that they are working with technology companies to regain their edge.
Advertising Age, November 10, 2008 — Autonomous silos defined by products, countries or functions, often operating in isolation if not in competition with each other, are no longer a viable option. They can be monumentally inefficient, limit the creation of silo-spanning offerings, lead to wasteful and non-optimal resource allocation, be barriers to marketing that has scale, and create brands that are inconsistent and confused both internally and externally. In tough economic times, such inefficiencies and barriers can mean the difference between business success and disappointing marketing performance, or even failure.
However, that does not mean the answer is to blow them up, or even that the goal of the organization should be to centralize or standardize. Rather, silo-driven problems... continue reading
Adweek, November 4, 2008 — A recent survey by YouGovPolimetrix revealed that the slumping economy is having a significant impact on how consumers perceive brand value. Budget brands like Wal-Mart and Old Navy were ranked highest by consumers, while more upscale brands and financial services firms ranked lowest, reflecting a loss of consumer confidence.
Marketing Charts, November 4, 2008 — Placing disciplined focus on three key business-to-consumer marketing initiatives and executing them properly helps top brands achieve “category killing” performance and can make a difference in market-share growth of up to 30%, according to research from the Marketing Leadership Council, a division of the Corporate Executive Board.
“Breakout Growth: Practical Lessons from Brands that Consistently Outperform Competitors,” sheds new light on how certain brands -despite fluctuations in economic and environmental conditions - are able to to exhibit breakout performance, growing at two to three times their category average.
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