Some interesting research from 360i questions what we mean by privacy with Brandchannel discussing the research using the phrase “Twitter takes the private space public” and the use of Twitter by large corporate brands.
In addition to the research 360i released a slide deck summary below.
I was inspired by one of Junko’s tweets to think about when a brand becomes a verb. Back when I was in college studying marketing one of the things that we came across was the challenge of extreme brand love where the product becomes such a part of the customers life that it becomes a verb.
Examples of this include:
Aspirin – which is actually a trademark of drug company Bayer
Biro – in British and Irish English meaning a ballpoint pen named after the Biro pen company who pioneered ballpoint pens
Hoover – to use a vacuum cleaner, named after white goods brand
Thermos – a vacuum flask for keeping food and drink warm
Tipp-Ex – correction fluid which was popular for covering up writing mistakes, typing errors and painting your name on your pencil case
Sellotape – clear sticky tape for packaging purposes
This phenomena creates a commercial | legal paradox. Where the brand is so loved that it becomes the generic verb for the whole product category that it dominates in terms of mind share (if not market share) then the intellectual property rights of the brand mark is at risk.
It was a measure of the uphill task that we faced when I worked at Yahoo! that Google has become genericised for web search that the company was having to provide legal guidance to bloggers and the media.
Ian Rogers who at the time worked at Yahoo! Music in the US came up with an idea that I thought could fly “Yahoo! that bitch“, it caught the ethos of the Yahoo! brand being fun and irreverant and paired with the utility of search far better than anything else I can think of .
Unfortunately it was never given serious thought, not even potty-mouth Carol Bartz would have signed off on it if we are honest about it – and this was the time of Terry Semel as CEO.
Junko’s tweet reminded of Microsoft’s desperate efforts to make ‘Bing it’ a verb for search. I realised that even if they got all the search market to themselves ‘Bing it’ would still feel uncomfortable for me to use. It feels wrong in the way you say it. It just doesn’t sing.
What’s more there was prior evidence that it wouldn’t work. Back in 2006 Samsung launched an MP3 player to go up against the iPod called Zing and tried to create that brand as verb for cacooning yourself in music to separate you from your surroundings. The fact that this is probably new to you gives you an idea of how successful it was.
If your brand is going to achieve world domination then it has to be phonetically right as well. Thinking about it, it is something that Microsoft has had a problem with for years, the exception to the rule probably being MSN as a verb for instant messaging which apes the way ICQ and AIM where used in a similar manner depending on your social group.
Think I am wrong? Well think about the way PC compatible was used in most cases instead of Windows compatible or Windows PC compatible in common speech. You could argue that it was because of Microsoft’s domination of that sector, but I would also add that it was because Windows as a word doesn’t sing.
Does your brand sing? Run it past friends and family as a verb, is it used internally as a verb? If not, then your brand won’t suffer the legal issues around genericisation, but also won’t go on to dominate mind share, even it if gets market share.
Yahoo! Japan selected Google as its search partner in Japan. It is suggested by commentators that this is contrary to how the parent company handled things. But let’s review:
Microsoft won the Yahoo! search business only after: an attempted hostile takeover (though its arguable Microsoft was that serious about it as Yahoo!’s position as lead on a number of open source developments including PHP and Hadoop would raise anti-trust issues for Microsoft’s Windows, Server and Tools businesses) – this destablised Yahoo! causing a hemorrhaging of talent to Google and other players
Microsoft then worked with shareholder activists (Carl Icahn) to unseat the board
Microsoft gave Yahoo! Inc. a poor deal. No upfront cash and no real advantage
Microsoft is in a monopoly position with its client Yahoo! Inc. Once the contract ends, Yahoo! can’t go to Google and Microsoft can name their own terms
Microsoft’s Bing search is still less relevant and provides a poor user experience compared to Google or even Ask’s Teoma. That is why Microsoft has had to buy search market share through the Yahoo! deal and through tool bar | search distribution deals
Bing joins a legion of proof-points showing that the Microsoft innovation message put out as part of Microsoft’s core communications strategy is hollow. Yes, resources are given to innovation; but the outcomes don’t generally justify the term innovative ergo not innovation
The Bing experience in Japanese is even worse
All of this would have been noted by Yahoo! Japan. However Yahoo! Japan has a number of shareholders to think of, and Yahoo! Inc. despite the commonality in the name is only a minority shareholder. Yahoo! Japan has an iron-lock in a number of sectors including local content, jobs, auctions, mobile and TV-based applications.
A poor consumer experience in search could let a competitor such as Microsoft or Google go after some if not all of these franchises. It would also affect Softbank’s broadband business and Yahoo! Japan’s mobile carrier | handset content relationships.
If Yahoo! Japan went along with a Microsoft search deal they would get screwed on the search revenue like Yahoo! Inc did. Why should Microsoft pay more for what they think they have coming to them already? Microsoft thinks that it has all the moves.
However, Yahoo! Japan – despite its name is a product of Japan, occupying one of Tokyo’s most prestigious business addresses, with a management team made up from some of Japan’s best entrepreneurs – at a time when Japan has little to be proud of in the technology sector.
All this at a time when Microsoft has come close to humiliating Japan’s Sony Corporation in the games console market and the disproportionate profit that Microsoft makes from Japanese computer makers through the monopolistic position of its Windows software licenses.
Then the Yahoo! Japan also has a compelling consumer argument in terms of the quality of the search experience. This could be a battle royale, pitting Microsoft money-fuelled lobbying and bluster against a Japanese national champion. And I hope that the Japanese cut Microsoft down to size.
Put simply the Gruen Transfer is when the confusion of a shopping experience sets in wearing down our determination, changing the consumer from a destination shopper on a mission to purchase a particular item and instead turn into an impulse shopper who wanders through the stores.
Gruen Tranfer is named after Victor Gruen who invented the modern shopping complex: the Southdale Mall in Edina, Minnesota. The delicious irony of it all is that the Austrian was a committed socialist in his younger days.
Sissy Bounce, New Orleans’s Gender-Bending Rap – NYTimes.com – Derek B’s 808 roll on Rock the Beat is a cornerstone, immortalised like The Winston’s Amen Brother. Really interesting sound very similar in spirit to the roots of hip-hop like the live shows back in the day at Harlem World
Monocolumn – Book fair stories [Monocle] – I love Hong Kong which is why it saddens me that Jeffrey Archer’s books seem so popular there, actually its less of a feeling and more of a gagging sensation as I want to vomit
I wouldn’t say that I agree with all Minxin Pei‘s presentation content, but it is very interesting to watch because of the economic facts that he marshals and I like the way he puts China’s growth in the context of growth of the US in the late 19th century.
Key numbers | facts
Chinese economy now worth 5 trillion USD
China is now third largest trading partner and world’s largest exporter
China has worlds largest foreign currency reserves 2.5 trillion dollars
Lenovo is the world’s fourth largest computer manufacturer
Huawei is the worlds third largest network infrastructure company
Chinese high-speed trains can do 200mph, faster than the Shinkansen trains of Japan
Obesity is starting to become a problem in China
Every day about 1 million Chinese move from the rural parts of the country into the cities | urban centres
China consumes 50 per cent of the oil that the US does
China building 2-3 nuclear power stations per year
Over the past week I have been working with a great freelance developer we use to sort out a security problem on this blog. The site got hacked, more details on how that could have happened here. The code seems to have been Javascript that would have directed you to sites which included malware if you had clicked up on it. Most of these links were in the archive section of the website.
The code was cleaned out, a couple of errant user accounts deleted, passwords were changed and WordPress updated. Google’s webmaster tools seems to have given the site a clean bill of health.
So apologies if you haven’t been able to read this blog over the past few days but (fingers crossed) we think that we have it licked.
Android’s ascent in China might not elevate Google – since it has a GPL licence it can be configured for other services and can even go to another application marketplace rather than Google’s. Mobile Linux makes sense even for feature phones
The LA Flea Market – I need to go and see this if if I get get to LA. Period GE electric fans and other cool stuff
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