August 29, 2005

I love all the chat about Gap. It reminds me that major companies like Disney and Microsoft encourage their employees to have blogs and to check other blogs to see what folks are saying about their company. I wonder the extent to which this is done...and whether companies ever take to heart the comments being made about them out here in blog-land. Seems to me that they could learn a lot from the comments we've been getting. "Double ugh" indeed!!

What's Next?

My "must see TV" of the day was a "Lifestyle of Celebrity Wives" segment on the five ex-wives who got the best deals from their husbands. Hands down winner (at Number One) was Rupert Murdoch's wife who walked away with $1.7 billion. According to the report, she was willing to settle for less, until Murdoch tried to oust her from his company's board. Then she got REALLY mad....and REALLY even.

Meanwhile in the land of billions, Google is buying up lots of the fiber optic cable available from the demise of so many dot-bombs. And what does Google have in store? Some speculation in Business 2.0:

Google Print - lets readers peruse and search the entire contents of public-domain books on the Web

Google Earth - uses satellite photos to explore landmarks and present geographic information at street-level views

Google Video Search - searches archived television content ranging from sports to documentaries to news shows

Google Music - might troll podcasts and other audio files so they'd show up in search results

Google TV - could let users share personal videos with friends and watch on-demand television programming

Google Talk - would use VOIP technology to dial phone numbers that appear in local search results

These innovations boggle the mind and challenge our imaginations. The implications are extraordinary, as we marketers are operating in a world of rapidly shifting sands. Staying fully informed is essential. And acting smart on the information is equally important.

Brand Ideation

We did another one of our Brand Ideation sessions today. These are typically 2-4 hours of intensive work with our clients, with the result that we develop a clear brand positioning that has client buy-in from the start. It's such a wonderfully rewarding exercise, because everyone bangs their foreheads and says, "Hey, this stuff really works!"