Brandopia

When will lawyers get it that you cannot restrict content from being spread globally. Every time I want to access content from Singapore (or from Belgium when I still lived there last year) I get this message that this content can not be viewed in my region. But every time I find it on Youtube! Does that mean Youtube is not respecting copyright laws? Maybe. But more importantly with the state of the internet today it is impossible to restrict it on a technical level. This time again with Slacker Uprising from Michael Moore. You go to the site, you can’t see it. You go to partners like Lycos, you can’t get. You go to Youtube…and there it is.

And if it is not on Youtube, people will just post it on other video sharing sites. So, in my opinion, we shouldn’t point the finger to video sharing sites but to the lawyers who are still stuck in the old media days.

So please, stop thinking you can restrict people viewing content from anywhere because it simply doesn’t work. Lawyers out there, start thinking!

• SIA: Airline Of The Year As Voted By The Boring Bastards Society.
  Excellent
  (tags: SIA Advertising TBWA)

• Microsoft Makes Key Hire in Researcher Danah Boyd
  Microsoft Research has hired social network researcher danah boyd, probably the most high profile academic in the world focused on the emerging web and its social consequences.
  (tags: Microsoft Research Danah Boyd)

The people from Bates 141 have created an interesting map of all the things that changed in recent years in Singapore. They did this for the upcoming PSFK conference which will be held in Singapore next week. They have identified 20 major changes. Here are a few (that PSFK found the most interesting):

from agriculture to agri-tainment

Farms in Singapore are re-marketing themselves to suit today’s desires for out-of-the-world experiences. Called Agri-tainment facilities, these farms now come with modern and attractive amenities like spas, restaurants, and souvenir shops for visitors. So far, 8 out of 224 local farms have adopted this new culture.

from english to singlish

Singlish is a combination of English, Mandarin, Malay and Dialect that is spoken by the locals. Originally synonymous with improper English, Singlish now dons a new image. As Singaporeans become more educated and affluent today, they are embracing the local lingo as a national trademark. Singlish is now a symbol of pride and identity for our multi-racial society.

from power plant to power station

Built in 1927, St James used to be Singapore’s first coal-fired power plant, energising nearby shipyards, factories and residences. Refurbished and re-opened in 2006 as St James Power Station, it is now Singapore’s largest entertainment complex. With10 nightclubs and live entertainment spots, this new spot is adding vibrancy to the feisty night scene of the city.

When reading this I wonder why people still think Singapore is boring? In about a years time Singapore will truly be a 24h economy!

• Hello, I’m a PC and I’ve been made into a stereotype
  Excellent analysis. A quote from the posting: "My girlfriend Cindy summed it up best when she saw the ad during NFL football on Sunday. She said, “now that’s an ad for someone that thinks its stupid to spend $3,000 on a Mac just because its cool.” Enough said."
  (tags: microsoft advertising)

• Mapvertising on Virtual Earth with Lat49
  Per their CTO, David Baar, Lat49 now supports all the major maps API's, and several of our largest publisher sites use Virtual Earth. Internally, we exclusively use Virtual Earth in the "region of commerce" selection interface for our advertisers. We are in a major build-out phase right now, having experienced ten-fold growth in our network traffic over the summer, with new publishers and some major new advertisers coming online regularly. The idea with Lat49 from the start has been to provide a means for publishers to effectively monetize their maps' properties with advertising that is directly coupled to what the user is doing and seeing on a map site.
  (tags: Live Maps Virtual Earth Microsoft Advertising)
• Microsoft joins the ‘everyone but Apple’ digital-media coalition
  Will the DECE come up with some kind of new DRM scheme, one that will require brand-new, DECE-enabled devices? And will Windows somehow be part of this new mix? Engadget is reporting there will be some kind of “rights locker,” where digital purchases will be stored. If that is the case, what does that mean for the forthcoming “Skymarket” Windows Mobile 7 app store, the Zune VideoX initiative or even Live Mesh?
  (tags: Microsoft DRM DECE)
• Yahoo Bleeds Purple. And You Thought Microsoft’s Marketing Campaign Was Weird
  Interesting analysis on the new Yahoo campaign.
  (tags: Yahoo advertising)
• Yahoo Start Wearing Purple
  Nice campaign from Yahoo. Especially love the 'Purple Pedals' stuff.
  (tags: Yahoo advertising)

• Microsoft: Forget Canoe, We Have Targeted TV Ads Figured Out
  Mediaroom Advertising Platform will provide the ability to deliver targeted, interactive TV ads to individual set-tops or other IP-based devices, and to track responses to those ads.
  (tags: Microsoft Mediaroom)

• It Isn’t Just Babies Or Gymnasts Who Can Put Their Foot In Their Mouth …
  Quote from this excellent post:" The fact is Microsoft defied big corporate company convention by walking away from a multinational agency and into the arms of a hungry, creative and pragmatic hotshop … so whilst Crispin’s may of screwed up with this initial commercial, their history shows they’ll more than likely make some magic pretty soon which is a good thing for everyone – especially me – because it means idiots like the guy at Landor will have to rethink their new business strategy from one of ‘corporate crawling’ into actually doing something interesting and powerful."
  (tags: Microsoft Gates Crispin Landor)

Ever since Philips launched their “Sense and Simplicity” campaign I have been a follower of what they do, not only on a product side but specifically on the marketing side. I simply love it. It is so powerful to bring their enormous portfolio of products and services (B2B as well as B2C) under one umbrella theme…and it works. A cool thing I just found is their Simplicity Advisory board. Let’s have a look at what the members do: “Each member of our Simplicity Advisory Board comes from a different cultural and professional background. This diversity enriches our understanding of what simplicity means for people in all aspects of their lives and in different cultures. But while the Board members bring a mix of experience and cultures, they all share our passion for simplicity.”

Sounds like we can use some of that, no? I’m still very passionate about Microsoft (been here a bit over 2 years) and we have some fantastic products but I think we could communicate a lot better. Look at what Reveries.com writes about this or check this article in Fortune and you’ll see how instrumental this campaign was, not only in terms of marketing metrics but the effect on the bottom line and shareholder value.

Some more interesting articles on this:

• Thinking simple at Philips in Businessweek
• Philips widens its product range and wants consumers to know in the New York Times
• They even simplified internally if you check this article from Fastcompany: “That initiative has been felt from the highest rungs of the organization to the lowest. Instead of 500 different businesses, Philips is now in 70; instead of 30 divisions, there are 5.”
• The campaign had a clear impact on their brand: “We also continued to invest heavily in the things that really set Philips apart – our brand and our end-user-driven innovation and design – moving us to 38th place in Business Week’s ranking of the world’s most innovative companies (up from 67th place in 2006) and further increasing our brand value by 15% (according to Interbrand).” , taken from their annual report in 2007.
• Even the financial press embraces this theme.
• Excellent blog post on the Beauty of Simplicity (with examples from Google and Apple)
• And last but not least, this transcript of the presentation Andreas Ragnetti did in the Netherlands on Molblog (in Dutch), here are a few snippets of results of the Sense and simplicity campaign:
• Revenue from new products from 25% in 2003 to 53% in 2006
• Ebitda grew from 4,56 billion in 2002 to 7,7 billion in 2007

What do you think? Should we focus more on simplicity at Microsoft?

• The Real Reason Google's Stock Crashed
  Wall Street Journal: The Justice Department has secretly hired one of the nation's best-known litigators, former Walt Disney Co. Vice Chairman Sandy Litvack, for a possible court challenge to Google Inc.'s growing power in advertising.
  Mr. Litvack's hiring is the strongest signal yet that the U.S. is preparing to take antitrust action against Google and its advertising deal with Yahoo Inc
  (tags: Google antitrust Yahoo)
• Nick Carr on the why Google makes the compliments to its core business free
  In the PC world, Microsoft had nearly as many complements as Google now has in the Internet world, and Microsoft, too, expanded into a vast number of software and other PC-related businesses – not necessarily to make money directly but to expand PC usage. Microsoft didn't take a cut of every dollar spent in the PC economy, but it took a cut of a lot of them. In the same way, Google takes a cut of many of the dollars that flow through the Net economy. The goal, then, is to keep expanding the economy.
  (tags: Microsoft Google)
• Entourage pairs up with Whrrl in a great partnership
  Brands need to build an experience…they need to create Brand Utility for consumers.
  (tags: Entourage Whrrl Branding)