It’s Story Time!

Thursday, August 12th, 2010

At FaceTime Strategy, we’re always looking for links of causality between current events and the demographic trends behind them. One trend that isn’t going away is the evolution of feature-focused brand advertising to story-telling as a means of customer engagement.  This shift is evident in a “Freakonomic” fashion from the bedroom to the boardroom across America – and driven by a single primary factor – the aging of our population. 

A Baby Boomer turns 64 about every 7 seconds – and at 77 million strong, they are the largest cohort in this country.  Age impacts the way the human mind processes information. As our minds age, we become increasingly prone to adoption of information in a storytelling format vs bulleted features. 

A recent study polled corporate marketing chiefs with budgets of under and over $1M to determine differences in their marketing strategies. The results – large-scale marketing budgets are driven more by a Big Idea than focus on ROI. 

Some will say it’s always been that way – others say the day of accountability is at hand and soon every budget dollar will be tracked back for effectiveness or simply not approved again. I think the Boomers will have their say – and they want Stories.

Is Direct Mail Dead?

Monday, August 9th, 2010

Direct mail plays an important role in the Marketing channel mix. The email inbox has certainly replaced the mailbox as the most efficient channel for relationship development and maintenance, but for relationship creation, direct mail still remains king.

That reality may be challenged over the next decade without some major changes in how direct mail gets delivered – the USPS business model may well push direct mail right out of the marketing picture entirely. The effects of an entity with monopoly privledges and Congressional oversight are clear – higher prices and lower services. Consumers and business are responding – 2007 mail volume of 212 billion pieces became 177 billion in 2009 with a projected decline of another 15 billion pieces in 2010. I would say that business model isn’t working anymore. 

Is direct mail dead?  Far from it – even at 150 billion pieces going thru the system in 2010 (more likely than 162), that’s still a significant business waiting to be right-sized and restructured to better suit the economic realities of today.  I wouldn’t bet against the governments’ ability to push that elephant into the tarpit however – would you?

Rise Of The Machines

Monday, August 2nd, 2010

India just created a touchscreen “laptop” that will sell for $35 and is seeking large-scale manufacturers to mass produce it, targeting student populations worldwide. The device looks like a bulky iPad but costs a whole lot less.

Also mentioned is the intention of getting the price from $35 to $20 and eventually $10.  If there was ever a time to sell that student bookstore stock you’ve been holding on to, now’s the time.  We all knew the day would come when consumer electronics would reach the pricepoint of ubiquity, but I think most people expected to see laptops drop to the $99 price range before plumetting all the way to “Starbucks gift card” territory.  Leave it to India to drag the planet kicking and screaming into the future of efficiency – first the cheapest car on the planet, now the cheapest laptop.  In the dictionary under “outsourcing” I think there’s a hotlink to India.

It’s an exciting time to be in the Technology business – and realizing that India has simply dropped the pebble in the water with this announcement – the ripples we’ll experience in the following 6, 8, 12 months from every major laptop manufacturer will be intriguing to see play out on store shelves across America.  Question: does India manufacture flat-screen TVs?