Not That There’s Anything Wrong…with a Mac

By Mark Evans in Advertising/Marketing, Apple/iPod 1 Comment

Can Jerry Seinfeld help Microsoft counter-attack against Apple’s hip, cool and successful marketing machine?

Microsoft clearly thinks the well-known comedian has the chops given it will reportedly pay him a cool $10-million to appear in a new $300-million advertising campaign along with other celebrities.

According to the Wall St. Journal, Seinfeld will appear with Bill Gates in some of the ads. If anyone can make Gates comes across as funny, it’s Seinfeld.

The $64,000 (or $10-million) question is whether Seinfeld can help make Microsoft cooler or, at least, less uncool than it is now compared with Apple. Maybe. At the very least, Microsoft has to be given points for trying something different.

But as Silicon Valley Insider notes, Seinfeld is really not that cool these days. A decade ago, he was the ultra-cool as “Seinfeld” was one of the most-viewed TV shows. Today, Seinfeld is probably best-known for doing voice-overs in movies, and he’s seen as funny but not particularly hip.

As well, Gawker points out that Seinfeld owned several Macs on this show.

For what it’s worth, here’s an Apple ad featuring the “Crazy Ones”, including a young Jerry Seinfeld.

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How Facebook and I Kissed and Made Up

By Mark Evans in Web 2.0 2 Comments

A few months ago, Facebook and I called it quits after a lengthy but volatile relationship.

After being in lust to the point where I visited Facebook several times a day, the social network service started to lose its appeal. The hype, the invitations to groups that have little purpose, the onslaught of productivity-killing applications, friend requests from total strangers, and the controversy over Beacon all started to be too much.

So, we split up. It was over. There was no going back. It was time to spend time with other services such as Twitter.

At first, it felt liberating. Not feeling like you had to change your Facebook status or deal with friend requests was amazing. It also felt rebellious. After all, no one leaves Facebook because everyone’s on Facebook so why would you leave?

After a few months, however, things changed. As someone who’s admittedly a digital animal, not being on Facebook felt wrong.

As PlanetEye‘s director of community, it’s important for me to be engaged in a wide variety of communities so not being on Facebook didn’t make sense. As well, more people I know in real life (aka real friends) continued to join Facebook, which meant I was missing from action.

So, I caved and went back to Facebook.

Much to my surprise, it’s a healthier relationship. The good thing is there’s no lust in the mix. We spend quality time together, and then do other things.

A big part of our reunion is Facebook has changed. The application “noise” has evaporated, I get a few friend/group requests but not that many, and there’s far less hype or Mark Zuckerberg-mania.

As well, Facebook has some new, appealing features. In particular, I like the ability to do instant-messaging. And I’ve always been a fan of how people can share interesting videos, articles and blog posts.

So, it’s official. Facebook and I have kissed and made up.

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No Problem When Apple Screws Up

By Mark Evans in Apple/iPod 14 Comments

When I was growing up, my brother was one of those kids who would get into all kinds of trouble. Unlike the rest of us, however, he would escape the wrath of our parents by smiling or giving my mother a bear-hug.

In many ways, Apple reminds me of my brother. No matter how often it drops the ball with a service (MobileMe) or product (3G Apple iPhone) that doesn’t work, batteries (iPod Nano, MacBook) that over-heat or slashing prices only a few months a product has been released (original iPhone), Apple somehow manages to stay out of trouble. For whatever reason, consumer have such a love affair with Apple that it can literally do no wrong.

If Microsoft screwed up as badly, the cacophony would be overwhelming with people calling for boycotts and Steve Ballmer’s head.

This is not to suggest that Apple doesn’t do a lot of things extremely well. But why Apple constantly get the benefit of the doubt may have to do with its long-time role as the valiant underdog battling the evil empire (aka Microsoft).

Or it may have to do with the cult of personality given the aura surrounding Steve Jobs. With Steve the Visionary at the helm, it’s impossible for Apple to go wrong because it’s such a cool, hip, leading edge player in an industry chock-a-block with blandness.

Still, you wonder if the Apple will be vulnerable to the same kind of criticism and pushback most companies endure. If Jobs, for example, stepped down would be successor get the benefit of the doubt when things went wrong? I doubt it.

A sign of what’s ahead could be Mike Arrington’s riff on how Apple is “flailing at the edges”. Arrington is probably saying what a lot of people are thinking but don’t want to admit because it’s not cool to criticize Apple.

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Canadian Cablecos Winning High-Speed Game

By Mark Evans in ILEC News, Analysis 3 Comments

Earlier this month, Silicon Valley Insider took a look at how the cable companies and telecos fared during Q2 in the high-speed Internet business. When it came to growth, the cable companies kicked some serious butt by taking 73% of net subscriber adds.

To get an idea of what’s happening north of the border, I did the same exercise. I also collected total telephone growth given bundles are such a key part of the marketing mix these days.

In the high-speed market, the cablecos walked away with 60% of net subscriber adds. Meanwhile, they attracted 106,958 net telephone adds, while the telcos lost 190,653 customers.

Canadian Cable/Telco Growth – Q2

Cable vs. Telco

U.S. Cable/Telco Broadband Growth – Q2

U.S. High-Speed Growth

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The End of the 404?

By Mark Evans in Advertising/Marketing 8 Comments

Since the Web hit the mainstream more than a decade ago, the 404 has been the standard error message when a server request can’t be fulfilled.

But as ISPs look for news ways to generate more revenue, the 404 could go extinct. For example, take a look below at what Rogers is doing when you mistype a URL. In this case, I was looking for Craigslist but didn’t include the .com.

For Rogers, replacing the 404 lets it present two banner ads (both in-house), some sponsored links, and links to Rogers Media content.

When you take into account this activity, bandwidth caps/tiered service, ad insertion based on monitoring the Web sites you visit, and the sale of value-added services such as anti-virus, it’s easy to see how ISPs want to be much more than just fast pipes to the Web.

Rogers Search
(Hat tip to reader E. Davis for putting me on to Rogers’ new trick).

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Samsung’s Apple Eater

By Mark Evans in Advertising/Marketing 7 Comments

I’ve yet to get my hands on a Samsung Instinct (I’ll do so soon and provide a review), and it’s unlikely it will dislodge the iPhone as the cool smart phone but you have to admire the Instinct’s pluck and willingness to fight the good fight.

For example, I think this billboard is brilliant – smart, attention-grabbing and inspiring. It’s one of those few ads that makes you think “What’s this Samsung Instinct all about?”. As well, it’s done by Bell, which sadly ran with the “Frank and Gordon” beaver campaign way past its best-until date.

What do you think?

Picture 1-102

More: Here’s CNet’s coverage/review of the Instinct. As well, TMONews has the scoop on the new Samsung T919.

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