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Article Surfing ArchiveGoogle Becoming Gobbledygook? - Articles SurfingAgain, Laura Ries and I are in violent agreement in her article, Google is Sushi. Her father and partner Al told me they only learn from people who disagree with them. This posting should generate a few people to disagree with me. I wrote some time back that Microsoft's MSN is not a brand. The recent speculation that they are aligning with AOL is smart in my view, as baggage and all, aol is a brand. And a brand that can compete with the big people, Yahoo and Google, provided they change their business model and get rid of their training wheels image. A better internet indeed. you will need Al Gore to invent that. Come on aol. You have a great agency, BBDO, talk to them. But aol, through parent Time Warner and powered by Microsoft is potentially in the sweet spot of the future of the internet, content. But the recent restructuring does not indicate that they have the focus right for MSN yet. "MSN does not have a coherent strategy". AdAge 09/21/05 For good up to date commentary on the battle of the search engines, read John Battle's Blog. http://battellemedia.com/ TechWeb News reported on 11/04, that Yahoo Inc. has hired another entertainment executive to help in its battle against Microsoft Corp., America Online Inc. and others in the highly competitive Internet-portal market. Yahoo announced Lloyd Braun, former chairman of the ABC Entertainment Television Group, would lead their media and entertainment division. "The combination of Lloyd's extensive business and deal-making experience, deep and long-standing relationships in the entertainment and media industries, and his proven creative instincts make him the ideal person to realize the full potential of Yahoo's media and entertainment offerings," Dan Rosensweig COO said in a statement. "With Lloyd's expertise, Yahoo is better positioned than ever before to work with creative partners to deliver exciting new content." Yahoo's media and entertainment division includes its movies, TV, entertainment, music, games, finance, news and weather, sports, health and kids businesses. Braun led the ABC television group for more than two years and was responsible for all creative, programming and business areas of the division, which included Touchstone Television and ABC Entertainment. Among the programs Braun initiated were "Alias," "The Bachelor" and "Extreme Makeover." Competition in the Internet-portal market is intensifying as companies jockey to become the primary site for consumers looking for news, entertainment, music and products on the web. Along with Microsoft's MSN and AOL, a unit of Time Warner, Yahoo is also seeing more competition from giant search engine Google Inc. Yahoo is starting to have the discussion which is enlightened, though they are not yet ready to see where they could dominate because they are still tracking the two-ton guerrilla that begins with G. But as Laura observes, the big G is going the way the other big G went. General Motors lost it's way too. And prior to Lutz, the insular culture would not allow GM to see that it was obvious what they were doing wrong. Now that they are in the mortgage business, it is probably too late. Now that Google is adopting the octopus strategy as Laura puts it, it may be the beginning of the end, despite a war chest that could buy Nigeria. Unless they look outside their to date successful culture, toward the future. Like Boston Chicken which screwed up a phenomenal success with the octopus, "why restrict ourselves to chicken". They spent chapter 11 inducing money re-branding is Boston Market. Eliminated their point of difference and business raison d'etre they got their business down to manageable proportions. Google needs to listen to the same people who predicted this stuff for GM and Boston Chicken. It seems so obvious to those of us who work with brands everyday. But people who have seen their capitalized value shoot by the establishment and stock go from an issue price of $85.00 to $295.00 in less than a year at last count can not be wrong. Or can they? We will see whether Google can find some way to balance their growth by reducing the arrogance factor and consulting with experts who do know a thing or two about branding and brand elasticity. This places Yahoo in the best position in our opinion, if only they would seize the opportunity. Google is an Octopus. Microsoft and aol are going to be preoccupied with whose in charge and who is on first for a while. Especially if they have a co-ownership joint management deal, again. Before they figure it out, which they will eventually, Yahoo can steal a march and dominate the new internet. Not another Al Gore version or one of George Bush's internets, but a true entertainment medium offering the best content in the most efficient way. Yahoos biggest competition is going to be Cable TV and then the networks themselves. they should be very afraid. Yahoo should be very brave, and provide Mr. Braun a very wide mandate. Cable and Network TV customers are totally frustrated with existing content delivery options. CBS, after significant success with sitcom's like Friends & Seinfeld are flailing around copying Fox with reality TV and being scooped by HBO on home grown shows. The other networks are not much better. Cable's movies-on-demand does not work properly. The model is broken and may be leapfrogged before it is fixed. Alternatives offer Byzantine technology. If I told you we would offer music by mail @99 cents would you buy it? So why does Netflicks work in the US mail? Netflicks works simply because others don't. Netflicks success is only a measure of others inefficiency and this inefficiency is an opportunity for new competitors like Yahoo who have not yet begun to capitalize on the paralysis of the entertainment delivery environment. Look at Blockbuster, the most confused of them all. They are now copying Netflicks, the very competition ridiculed by Wayne Huizenga as he went through his arrogant streak after building a miracle from trash. The cable companies are charging a fortune for content. Customers can not afford it. The full gamut now runs in excess of $300 per month. Don't believe it? Get a quote on all channels and all on demand services including Internet, excluding phone. This is not endearing customers. Satellite companies have resorted to paying so called entrepreneurs to give away dishes. Is this s great business model? Speaking of phones, if you have a cable phone, pray they don't cut you off when there is "trouble in the area" or you don't pay your bill by yesterday. Internet users are frustrated with the whole Search Engine syndrome where the "targeting" is as blunt a media instrument we have seen, patently transparent to customers and at least as annoying as pop up advertising. Try Exactseek for a particularly vivid example of badness. This is also starting to erode even trusted brands like Ebay and Amazon who seem to be temporarily blinded and have definitely lost their cutting edge position. This is a brilliant background for Yahoo to light a beacon for customers and offer them unfettered entertainment content. A real alternative to cable for a start and a real competitor to the other long term survivor brand, aol, powered by Microsoft.
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