Archive for May 2011
At Issue } essential reading
The Lack of Cultural Intelligence is Damaging Our Enterprises and Our Economy
More and more leaders are scared for their business. Not because their products and services are not innovative or relevant, but because they just don’t connect naturally with the changing face of America’s consumers.
Answering Your Questions About P&G and Innovation
June's Harvard Business Review features a story by Procter & Gamble Chief Technology Officer Bruce Brown and me on "How P&G Tripled Its Innovation Success Rate." The article's core message is that P&G achieved that result by approaching the creation of new growth businesses in a highly systematic way, building what Brown and I call the "new-growth factory."
Netflix Is The Main Source Of Internet Traffic In North America
Sandvine‘s new report puts Netflix top of the sources for peak downstream Internet traffic in North America, with a share of 29.7%. Netflix came above HTTP websites (18.36%), YouTube (11.04%) and BitTorrent (10.37%) for downstream traffic during peak times, with BitTorrent accounting for over half of the upstream traffic.
Jane Pratt, Unbound and Ready for the Web
The model Veronica Webb made charming faces at the camera. Michael Stipe, the lead vocalist for R.E.M., cozied up to a snake. The actor David Arquette designed a T-shirt that read: “I love. Therefore I am.” Friends of the former magazine editor Jane Pratt, they and other members of the Pratt Pack — the rapper Estelle; the designer Isaac Mizrahi; and the models Carol Alt, Helena Christensen and Crystal Renn — showed up last month for a series of photo shoots at Drive-In Studios to help promote xoJane.com, Ms. Pratt’s new Web site, which went live on Monday.
How Cultural Movements can drive the Baby Boomers
The New York Times has reported that brands have started to turn their attention to the one group of people amongst us who may still have disposable income during these times of recession – the over 50s. And for good reason. Statistics show that they not only have more money to spare, they earn more, spend more and have more job security than younger consumers. They also avidly consume more media.
Check Out the Future of Shopping
A device that looks like a smartphone is making supermarket shoppers—and stores—happier. Perched on the handle of the shopping cart, it scans grocery items as the customer adds them to the cart.
Branding Louis Vuitton: Behind the World's Most Famous Luxury Label
You know the bag. The chocolate-brown leather canvas emblazoned with quatrefoils and the LV monogram is immediately recognizable as the international symbol of globetrotting luxury. The Louis Vuitton brand is the most valuable brand in luxury, according to a new study from Millward Brown. But in a world with knock offs on street tables from New York to New Dehli and rappers like Kanye West pronouncing himself the "Louis Vuitton don," how does the world's most famous luxury brand protect its image?
Puma Is No Longer a Sneaker. It's a Lifestyle
When Puma transformed a venerable soccer cleat made famous by Brazilian footballer Pelé into a sneaker in 1998, the shoe known as the King sparked a global fashion sensation and an eightfold surge in Puma revenue in as many years. Yet ever since the German sporting-goods maker was bought by French luxury house PPR in 2007, the brand has performed like David Beckham during his Los Angeles Galaxy years.
Brewers Hope Consumers Will Judge a Beer By Its Cover
It used to be that beer came in a glass, can, bottle, or keg. End of discussion. Today it seems as if the packaging gets almost as much attention as the liquid itself, if not more. Special cans turn color when the beer is cold. Some bottles are funky too, with one brand featuring a special vortex neck meant to improve taste. Don't want a keg? Try a "home draft" that fits in your fridge.
BOOM! Goes the Dynamite Under Facebook’s Google Smear Campaign
In the annals of shady public relations stunts, Facebook’s attempt to surreptitiously plant negative — and highly misleading — stories about Google into leading media outlets will surely go down as one of the most ham-handed in recent memory.
