Yesterday, Bloomberg announced that Walmart has been pitching new TV shows to advertisers. These are shows that Walmart are producing and distributing on vudu – the streaming TV service that they own. Wait a minute, Walmart are a traditional retailer… what are they doing producing...
The way we define a media owner is changing rapidly and so too is the way we define an audience. Customers, we would argue, are a more valuable audience than “viewers” or “listeners” or “readers” of typical paid media channels. This is because customers are...
There is no one single way to grow and evolve as a business. Sure, consistent sales growth would be great (but not always a reality), a growing pool of potential customers would be amazing, a dynamic and current brand that magnetises people is always helpful....
Last week Apple announced that it is shifting focus from handsets to services, in what is Tim Cook’s biggest move since taking over the reins of Apple. Essentially, they are using their powerful customer base to unlock new revenue streams as their core product growth...
Twenty years in media buying agencies taught me a few things. Chief among these is that businesses tend to overvalue the consumer attention they buy through paid media, whilst squander the attention they command with their customers. Consider the money and time and resource and emotional...
Like a line from a coming-of-age teen movie, the phrase ‘she just gets me’ comes to mind when talking about the impact a good algorithm can have on the relationship between a business and their customers. Don’t worry, this is not a post about the...
It’s easy to get carried away with defining things – be it problems, technologies, behaviours, marketing strategies, media etc. Definitions can quickly become a distraction, one that chews up mental energy, time and therefore money, without adding anything substantive. Worse still, over thinking definitions can...
Packaging is a valuable owned media asset; however, it only has positive value if its social cost is lower than the value it creates. If your brands packaging is harming the environment, regardless of the media value, it is simply a cost to society. A...
Ethical consumerism recognises that every purchase decision comes with a moral choice. Retail brands have to continually improve their sustainability and ethical practices because, in many ways, shopping is the purest expression of morality and, some believe, is more important than voting. Think I’m kidding?...
In our highly connected economy, where trust and relationships are central, convergence has become a driving force shaping our lives. Convergence is the coming together of multiple separate entities, technologies, functions, experiences or groups. In the tech world, convergence often relates to the fusion of...