Back Seat Marketers

When Lance Armstrong signed up with Radio Shack for a new cycling team, it seemed like a match of convenience. Being a cycling fan that puts in the hours watching Versus, I’ve learned that there are only a few marketers that seem to care to advertise to our quirky US niche audience (not to mention that Ford considering dropping Mercury leaves a big hole in the ad line up!).

That said, this ad campaign that Radio Shack has created is about as fantastic as it gets on all levels.

First, Lance is on par with Peyton Manning in his ability to deliver a jovial and credible persona. Second, the whole idea that Lance is the lead of Mobility, Radio Shack’s main profit driver, connects the man, what he’s known for and the brand he’s pitching seamlessly.

On track.

Transparency is increasingly important to consumers. So how best to provide news that it fears lost loyalty?. Well, my first thought probably wouldn’t be to do an open letter. We consumers hate fees and my guess is that with the iPhone nearing an exclusivity end in the US, AT&T is readying for the worst by locking in subscribers with high switching costs.

The iPhone is only the beginning since 4G will probably turn wireless into a utility instead of a proprietary network. If you can get 120 volts from any company, then price and switching costs become the game.

This isn’t Jobs going off on Adobe, this is a price change, so don’t get so wishful with the style, AT&T.

Thanks to Lizdon for pointing to a great post From Tom Brakke on the cave and the flow.

This post goes way beyond investing from my perspective. Tom highlights something far too many companies are falling in the trap of: fast following. The river is getting so easy to follow. Specifically, the data flow is so robust that tracking the latest news is becoming a widely followed business model. As Mauldin would say, when there’s too many people on one side of a trade, the trade is going to fall apart as a bubble at some point. The river is increasingly a bubble.

What isn’t a river? A cave where people develop independent from the rush of the river trends.

Both the cave and the flow are important, but as important is realizing just how many folks are lined up on each side.

Hey, technology debates and clash of the titans notwithstanding, Adobe is taking it’s message to the masses.

We all don’t have to like it, but it is the perfect only way to respond to the PR battle they are losing with Steve Jobs, the ultimate person as Apple’s brand pitchman. I mean, the company just needs to write a letter to make it’s point.

Adobe is not going to win the battle in the media, so mass marketing is all it has left. I get it, if you say you love Apple and creativity, then Steve Jobs is a sour hater if he’s not loving Adobe back.

If this were about consumer demand or a “keep my show alive” website for recently cancelled Lost, then maybe there’s a shot, but this is B2B land where public support isn’t going to sway a juggernaut to listen to the masses.

Nice try, but wheels off.

Now that we’re getting all hyped up on the age of digital, we should start to wonder whether news media are more brands that are the mark of quality than exclusively the creator of content. While starting to use my new cool iPad, I am beginning the migration process from print to digital. This new device is the beginning of the end of the constraints of the publishing deadline and all things that go with it, including the vertical integration that was required by the legacy industry.

Makes me think of the value of media brands and not the value of the print medium they are delivered on. In the consumer goods arena, companies can license a name with almost no knowledge of the fact to an end consumer. Can publishers begin the process of licensing brands to lend credibility to new arenas? The NY Times front page, available in your home town? Probably a better produced front page than what is made today. Not possible? With digital editing and delivery, it sure is. In fact, news sources could aggregate and charge for the brands and content additions that you want, like cable. My Netvibes feed does this to a degree, but the delivery is still Yahoo homepage 2004.

Why pay, when it is all free? Because no industry survives on free and most stubbornly find a way to get back to normal profits over time. If the telecom industry can do it, anyone can.

So the market drop on Thursday is being considered the result of an accident. Many folks had enjoyed the recent stock market which had moved us a lot further along in feeling like the economy is coming back. But then one uncertainty sends our fragile mindset into a tailspin. The day after the drop, the S&P 500 went down even more…

What’s even worse is that we even had some pretty good news on the jobs front come out yesterday. No matter, we’re already swayed.

Have to wonder if any highly capitalized hedge funds realize they may be able to move the market now. Volatility and fear never make for good growth.

Update: I guess $1 Trillion in a bailout from the EU gets us closer.

Just took another look at the Consumer Sentiment Index thanks to U of Michigan via the St Louis Fed, and it is still at historically low levels…

The hunt for income dollars are coming in all areas. As we’ve covered, distressing times are when business models are broken [Hint: Amazon quietly gets into private labels after buying and selling, then charging a commission for its marketplace, now house brands...]

Here’s my bet: Stock market lifts and better #s compared to LY’s melt down will lead to a slightly positive holiday, but capped by unemployment and the lack of credit.

Facebook launched vanity URL’s so you can get to a friend’s FB page without searching by name. Good thing, too, cause the name search is a bit wacky if not simply . I am locked in as twitter.com/corysorice and now facebook.com/corysorice. Also, I’ve bought my own domain. Does any of this have value? Who knows, but I’m not going to wait to find out.

Thing is, we’re also starting to line up our real personas on these search engines. So, what is Mike Smith to do once all versions of Mike Smith are gone? I guess Mike-O is an option.

My guess we may see a shift from very popular names being large percentages of the population to a far bigger long tail of unique names (probably with the new round of parents that were growing up with FB).

Think I’ve got a unique name? Try again, an up and coming HS football offensive lineman is creeping into the first page of Google results for Cory Sorice.

Quite interesting to be a part of what my company is going through during this downturn.

In fact, many companies and industries are digging into themselves to find what makes them unique and whether that means anything in this new market. Consumers have changed what they are buying and companies are having to shift gears to line up with those new needs and expectations. For the nimble and lower engineering development companies, shifting product and service programs can be done on the fly. For higher tech companies, shifting gears will take months if not years.

What has happened is a downshift to value based products and consumption, v. premium products and upselling. Having a role in value retail is showing me that the market is hot in sectors. Family Dollar and WalMart can thrive, while Abercrombie hopes teens can get jobs this summer so they can continue to buy $80+ jeans.

I’m amazed right now at how many companies are reeling from poor performance and are not sure where to find growth. Data driven, CRM companies know the score. They are driving business with their existing clients and know how to grow new ones profitably.

Get the word out with your customers that you’re on your toes (and still in business). Use SEO to get found for free. Find the products that you can add on to previous sales. At a time when everybody is struggling to justify buying anything, those that are trusted are going to survive.