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Exciting and euphoric are not two words I would use to describe for Microsoft.



The fact that this clearly staged euphoria was manufactured for public consumption, note the presence of TV cameras, is a sign that Microsoft means business. I guess If you can't beat them you have no choice, but to join them.

Clearly, Microsoft understands that Apple is onto something and believes it can succeed if it provides a facsimile experience at retail.

I understand how excitement could be faked at the opening for the media, but finding people who can demonstrate passion, excitement and charisma is not going to be easy.

There's something deeper at work in the Apple store, something than can expressed in store design and that's the thing Microsoft's going to have such a hard job copying. 


Posted by Ed Cotton Portland-based band, YACHT, appear be applying stringent brand guidelines.

This post appeared on the band's blog a few months back.



Posted by Ed Cotton Interesting to see The Atlantic write such a flattering article about The Economist and the current state of the newsweekly business. The discussion revolves around the recent changes and re-designs at Time and Newsweek, who are both hoping to drag their publications to new found success in an otherwise dying print market.
The Economist is the one shining ray of light that everyone now wants to emulate, but The Atlantic does not believe this is possible because The Economist possess one thing these other titles lack.

"The secret to The Economist’s success is not its brilliance, or its hauteur, or its typeface. The writing in Time and Newsweek may be every bit as smart, as assured, as the writing in The Economist. But neither one feels like the only magazine you need to read. You may like the new Time and Newsweek. But you must—or at least, brilliant marketing has convinced you that you must—subscribe to The Economist. "

In the end, it's all about the brand.


Posted by Ed Cotton Over a month has passed since the Domino's incident, but it's worth a second look. The company was criticized for its tardy response, but at least it did something to reassure potential customers who were clearly concerned. The rogue video caused such a fuss because it focused on the hidden fear that people have with restaurants. This is the stuff of urban myth and legend. While the Domino's President bravely records a video and posts it on YouTube, it's not a conversation, it's a crisis intervention and while the CEO is full of conviction and emphasizes the right words, where's the real commitment here?



Close to 50 days have passed since the incident and to the best of my knowledge all the company has done is open a Twitter account.

Is this good enough?

Did it turn a crisis into an opportunity?

Where's the conversation?

Where's the transparency?

Where's the proof that can be trusted?

If companies are in the conversation and continually delight and surprise customers with their response, they will gain trust and be able to diffuse situations like this easily.

If you aren't listening and you aren't prepared, this stuff becomes a crisis because it spins out of control. There's no excuse today, the tools and the platforms for communication are right there and accessible for all to use.

If after a crisis you don't grab these tools and make something it happen, it tends to suggest that you are hoping that people forget,. You want everyone to move on and you don't want to have to worry about engaging in dialog and facing up to responsibility.

That's very 1.0 thinking.

Posted by Ed Cotton Shared Egg is an interesting project that attempts to visualize the connection points between friends. It maps the common areas that bring people together using a combination of interests and brands. It illustrates that brands can be the connective tissue between people; people share a love of brands and an have affinity for them.

Here's the big map...




Here's an isolated look at the Nike relationships within the map....



It raises some interesting questions..

1. How do brands connect to bigger themes, interests, ideas and emotions?

2. How are brands leveraging those connections?

3. How do brands enhance those connections?

4. How do brands bring communities together?

While many have questioned the role of brands in social networks and communities, Shared Egg illustrates that people can be connected and linked by brands. It still remains to be seen how brands best leverage this opportunity to activate and build out these connections and these communities.


Posted by Ed Cotton There's a recent article in Ad Age that talks about the ANA meeting where CMOs vented their frustration with ad agencies over their responsiveness and the increasing opportunity they believe exists with media companies.

"Agencies and ad networks came in for some rough treatment at a CMO roundtable during the Association of National Advertisers' annual conference on Saturday as executives vented their dissatisfaction with agency models and ad-network performance. The chief marketing officers of Hewlett-Packard and Charles Schwab openly mulled the attractiveness of bypassing agencies to work directly with media companies and other experiments as they look to fix an agency model they see as broken."

In my view there's some truth to the argument that agencies are somewhat tied to a time intensive process that has to change, but in terms of thinking and ideas, I don't believe media companies can replace agencies.

The reality today is that great ideas matter way more than fast ideas.

Creativity is needed more than ever.

The reason for this is the massive increase in the volume of micro-interactions (emails, Tweets, Facebook updates, viral videos, channel surfing, radio surfing,etc...). I am not going to suggest we are reaching "Information Overload", or that we are suffering from "Future Shock", because I believe in our ability to adapt and manage. However, it's a simple fact that the more stuff you have the harder it's going to be to remember it and just "being there" in a media sense, I believe is no longer sufficient to generate interest, recall and to persuade.

This isn't about just showing up in a media, it's about placing a brilliant idea in media that is contextually right and relevant.

Brilliance has become a mandatory, because without it, there's no way your brand is going to be recalled or make an impact, it will simply be just another message that's ignored and goes in the trash, most of our email.

It's likely the CMOs in the article are merely reflecting back the pressure they are under and things taking time to get to market can add to that. However, the ad industry employs some of the smartest, brightest idea creators around and if clients aren't demanding and using that brilliance, they are missing something that's essential in today's tough times.




Posted by Ed Cotton