This Week in Marketing: December 11, 2010

This will be a quick post--or as quick as I can manage, at any rate. Like most of you, I've got lots of papers and exams waiting to be graded. 'Tis the season!

This week's highlights (with applicable teaching topics and links to discussion below):

 

How the World Googled in 2010

  • The article: How the World Googled in 2010, from Mashable.com (includes a video link)
  • The facts: Google has produced a video summarizing its trend-tracking Google Zeitgeist for 2010.
  • Classroom uses: There aren't too many marketing lessons--it's mostly a walk down memory lane (or at least the 2010 edition), but it does show how much information is embedded in search query data. Google Zeitgeist, Google Insights for Search, and Google Trends are continually available to marketers who want to know what people are looking for.

I've Got a Printer and a Pair of Brand New Rollerskates

  • The article: How a Speeding Baby is Helping HP Make Printing Relevant Again, from Advertising Age. (This article may eventually go behind Ad Age's subscription wall)
  • The facts: HP is currently running an ad campaign focused on wireless printing from a wide variety of computing devices, including smart phones, starring a baby speeding down the highway and "Brand New Key," a quirky 1972 hit song. The article, which includes a video link to the ad, discusses how HP is adding some sizzle to the mature inkjet printer market with this latest initiative.
  • Classroom uses: This is an engaging and current example of navigating the maturity stage of the product life cycle by adding new features and an attention-getting campaign. The baby's trip along the highway is a metaphor for the photo of the baby, speeding from the parents' smart phone to a network printer at Grandma's house, where it automatically prints.

Netflix Gets the Last Laugh ... For Now

  • The article: Blockbuster laughed at Netflix partnership offer, from CNet News.
  • The facts: Netflix CEO and founder Reed Hastings approached Blockbuster in 2000 proposing a partnership, and according to outgoing Netflix CEO Barry McCarthy, "they just about laughed us out of their office."
  • Classroom uses: Earlier in the semester I posted some articles about Blockbuster's demise. While it is easy in hindsight to criticize Blockbuster's failure to sense developing trends in the marketing environment, at the time Netflix must have seemed like a niche business of no concern to the video-rental giant. It's a great example of how fast things can change. And it underscores the fact that Netflix cannot afford to rest on its laurels either--U.S. internet service providers continue to insist that they must be allowed to manage and/or charge for the bandwidth required to transmit streaming movies and other large files. Any additional costs injected into the system are likely to end up coming from consumers' pockets, and could threaten the success of Netflix and other video-streaming services.

E-readers: Hot in 2011

  • The article: Hot e-reader sales will continue into 2011, Gartner says, from ComputerWorld.
  • The facts: Gartner Group estimates that sales of e-reader devices will grow sixty-eight percent in 2011; this follows eighty percent growth in 2010. Gartner estimates that at present, Amazon Kindle sales account for close to half of all e-reader sales.
  • Classroom uses: We've been following the e-book and e-reader markets on this blog all semester; this offers one more sign that the e-reader device has entered the growth stage of the product life cycle.

Social Media and Ice Cream

  • The article: Social CRM--Thank you Ben & Jerry's, from BL Ochman's WhatsNextBlog.com
  • The facts: The blog post describes interaction between the author and Ben & Jerry's that started when she tweeted her intention to stock up on ice cream before her impending oral surgery. It ended a few days later with some free ice cream coupons arriving in the mail.
  • Classroom uses: Plenty is written in general terms about the power of social media to strengthen brand relationships, but personal examples are the best. Furthermore, this also shows the public-relations benefits that can accrue from taking good care of customers who have a megaphone. Ochman's blog is popular in social media circles, and she has now passed on her story to her readership.