Adcentered

The Chrysler Realignment

Chrysler is looking to make some major changes. The Wall Street Journal reports that Chrysler is currently scrambling to cut costs by forming alliances with companies across the globe. In India, they are in talks with Tata to build Jeeps. The struggling car maker is also in talks with Fiat about a possible factory lease deal. All this is in addition to down-sizing their workforce. In the U.S. Chrysler sales have fallen by 22% so far this year.

There is some good news for the company. Chrysler, GM and Nissan were ranked as some of the most visible auto makers online. Internet research company iCrossing did a study on the paid and natural search visibility of automakers. There’s obviously a disconnect between online viability and the conversion rate of new purchases. Chrysler can bounce back, but the problem goes beyond operation and marketing. Product tastes are changing, due to gas prices amongst other things. The entire automotive industry is in a state of realignment.

MillerCoors vs. Anheuser-Busch + Inbev

SABMiller and Molson Coors are joining forces in order to become more competitive. The new venture MillerCoors, is suppose to save $500 million per year. SABMiller will own 58% of the joint venture and Molson Coors the rest. Voting rights will be appropriated equally. The combined revenue is expected to be $6.6 Billion. (read more)

MillerCoors will be able to compete more effectively against Anheuser-Busch. They will be able to lower prices, combine media spending, and obtain better sponsorships opportunities. Anheuser-Busch is still the largest brewery in North America, but their stock hit a 52 week low after news of the MillerCoors merger.

There is some speculation that Anheuser-Busch will consider a merger with its global competitor, InBev NV, the world's largest brewery. The Anheuser-Busch/Inbev combo would control 25% of the world's production of beer. Speculation of the merger raised Anheuser-Busch's stock today, but there are no clear signs that the merger is even being considered. The pressure to merge is coming from stockholders who are paying close attention to the Anheuser-Busch's strategy (read more). This reminds me of the Cola Wars of the 80's, but this time it is less about the advertising. The battle of the beers is on.

YouTube's fate rests on decade-old copyright law

Whether YouTube suffers the same fate as Napster may depend on the wording of a nearly antique law written long before video-sharing Web sites were envisioned.

When technology moves faster than the legal system, Billion dollar lawsuits happen. Viacom sueing YouTube for 1 Billion dollars illustrates the need for legal reform. Media companies are fighting with legal action instead of creating new business models. Record companies learned this from MP3 technology, now media giants are learning the same lesson from video sharing. I Say, it's time to rethink media business models and the laws associated with copy protection.

read more | digg story

Daylife, Online Newspaper or Something?

It is no secret that newspapers are not as widely read as they use to be. Young people and just about everyone else get their news elsewhere. Over the past two years, the increase in blogs and social news sites like Digg haven't helped either. News aggregators, or sites that maintain a constant stream of RSS feeds make it easier for people to choose what they want to read about. Some people, including the founders of Daylife.com believe that credible journalism is losing ground in the Web 2.0 landscape.

Daylife has a list of high ranking investors including Craig Newmark, the NY Times, Mike Arrington of Techcrunch. Daylife is suppose to make important online news easier to find and consume. Well, I don't get it. Daylife has cover stories much like newspapers, but the process for determining what is most important isn't clear. They say "Interesting stories from around the world, hand-picked by Daylife".

In reality, Daylife is a dressed up news aggregator. It has more features than Google news, but it is lacking many of the Web 2.0 features that people have become accustomed to, like commenting. If any of this is confusing, it's because it is. Many investors don't fully comprehend the concept, but more importantly, neither do many users. Exactly how much better is it than what's already available. Fortunately this is the beta version, so there's room to grow, but first they should probably explain the benefits better so dummies like me can understand them.

The Chinese Are Coming

What happens when the world’s largest automobile market starts to make cars for export? It’s going to happen sooner than expected. First Automobile Works is China's first automobile manufacturers. Founded in 1953, the company has come a long way. They have even started making luxury vehicles. FAW is one of the "Big Five" Chinese automobile manufacturers along with Dongfeng Motor Corporation, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, Chang'an Motors, and Chery Automobile. Automakers are already investing heavily into the region. Some are even investing in China's auto industry. Companies that recognize the opportunity to partner with the Chinese are going to do better than the ones who wish to compete. It took the Japanese 20 years to make a dent in the U.S. dominated market. The Koreans did it in 10. With collaboration and technological advancements the Chinese could do it sooner. They also have the opportunity to brand themselves from scratch. Chinese cars are coming and they could be the meanest, greenest, and freshest cars on the market before you know it.

Wal-Mart is starting to get it.

Wal-Mart is going through some major changes. People already know that they sell for less, but the price point alone is only part of the equation. Aesthetics are increasingly more important as people start to look beyond pennies on the dollar.

I found several images of proposed Wal-Mart designs and a few of a pilot store.

 

Wal-Mart is creating what it calls community stores. These stores tend to be smaller, designed better, and blend in with the existing environment better.The interiors take into consideration how people shop.

The $580 million dollar Wal-Mart account is under review at the moment. The Martin Agency is still in the running. New direction, New Design, New Agency. I like where this is heading.

Going Red

The global fund (theglobalfund.org) was create to combat Aids, Tuberculosis, and Malaria worldwide. The RED campaign was just launched in North America and is expected to be a huge fundraising campaign. Many brands are offering a "red" product to assist The Global Fund.

Motorolla, Gap, Apple, Armani, and American Express are only a few of the names that are going red. Red products are going to be HOT!!! this holiday season. Thats a good thing because they help a great cause.

The American Express Red Card is only offered in the UK at the moment.

If you've walked by Boyko's office this week, you've probobly noticed "red" ads outside of his office. This program is just getting started. Get used to seeing red and consider going red yourself. To find out more about RED, visit joinred.com

The Digital Election

The 2008 election is going to be very digital. One of the best ways to reach the voting demographic is through PDAs. Millions of voters carry these devices and rely on them for information. Most PDAs have web access and streaming video. They are an ideal way to get a message accross.  PDA's don't see the web in the same way that PCs do. The small screen on these devices makes it difficult to navigate many websites. Fortunately there is a solution. This summer, the .MOBI domain became available. Unlike  other domains, this one is specifically for PDAs and portable technology.

I purchased vote08.mobi to test the domain. I am experimenting with mini PDA blogs. Go to vote08.MOBI on your PDA or web-enabled phone to view a simple PDA blog on the  .MOBI domain. I predict big things for the .Mobi domain. I know you can simply make regular .COMs available online, but this should have already happened.

In the meantime, I'll watch for new developments. Vote in the 2008 election, said the little blog.

YouTube, It’s So Big!

I’m sure you’ve noticed all the forwarded e-mails from friends that link to laugh-out-loud (lol) videos or amazing no-they-didn’t-OMG-yes-they-did footage. You follow the link, press the little circle in the middle of the screen, and BAM! Instant entertainment. And it’s friggin free.

Back in the day, like several months ago, many people didn’t know about YouTube. But it’s catching on fast. Even those people who think that having internet access, makes you someone who “works with computers,” know about YouTube.

Remember that social networking site that Rupert Murdoch purchased for hundreds of millions of dollars. Um, I think it's called Myspace.com. Well, YouTube is bigger than that and growing. The Tube, as I like to call it, (actually I've never called it that until now) recieves 3.9% of all daily internet traffic worldwide, compared to Myspace.com with 3.35, according to internet analysis company Alexa.

YouTube’s value is estimated at around 1 Billion dollars.
All that growth is probably the reason why that graphic at the top of this post was there instead of the site. It’s better than a teddy bear graphic, asking you to bear with us. You can expect little things like this from a growing company, which just happens to serve 100 million videos per day.

Did you know that NBC made a deal with YouTube to launch a sitcom on the site. The pilot didn’t didn’t get picked up, but found its way to YouTube and received a warm welcome. 8 episodes are in the works.

What does all this mean? It means that shit is changing, man! The way we receive viral messages, the way entertainment is produced. It’s reality TV on demand, and you can be a part of it. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone started making a killing with an XXX version, if you know what I mean. If YouTube is the big one, start looking for small segmentedTubes. I know Yahoo, Google, and MSN are trying to compete with more video offerings.

The Tube is good news for all those number hungry marketing guys who are still crying about the sky falling and the end of the 30 second spot. YouTube is measurable!

I would say keep an eye on this one, but unless you are comatose and in a cave under the sea, you will hear about this one. But, don’t just hear about it, be a part of it. There are still other great ideas to incorporate with YouTube, that haven’t been done yet. Make some money while you're at it, and send some my way.

Bar Codes Go Badass!

This may be old news to some, but I think it is still post worthy. The Cannes Advertising Festival tookplace at the end of June. I think it was a great year in advertising. The folks at Cannes have this little thing called a Titanium Lion. To get one of these you pretty much have to change the game of advertising. You have to do something so ginormous, that it's simple. BMW Films is a past winner of the award. This year a small Japanese firm took the award, with Barcode Design. Check it out.

A blogger at http://campaignbrief.blogspot.com/2006/07/titanium-      pandemonium-japanese-barcode.html stated that the idea had been done before by a German agency.

In either case, I think it is brilliant. I'm not sure if the German agency actually submitted thier entry into the Cannes Festival. This illustrates what Al Ries says about positioning, that the first one to successfully own the position is the one that is remembered.