Adotas

Where media buyers start online

Featured Author

In 2003 Advertising Women of New York voted Cindy Advertising Woman of the Year. Cindy resigned as chairman of BBH US in 2005, after sixteen years with the agency, in order to focus on finding something different to do for the next chapter of her career.

More articles by Cindy Gallop





Features

The New ‘Net Commandments: Examining How Innovation Gets Old Real Quickly

Written on
Jan 23, 2007 
Author
Cindy Gallop  |
Share
The New ‘Net Commandments: Examining How Innovation Gets Old Real Quickly

MARKETING SHALL BE SOMETHING THAT HAPPENS OUTSIDE OF THY SITE, NOT A PART OF IT

A corollary of the above, where functionality is considered the be-all and the end-all, and the idea of dressing it up in some emotionally compelling reasons to buy/use that will immediately create differentiation and a competitive edge seems not to have occurred to the founders/creators. A quick look at the various hot/top/most anticipated lists at the Museum of Modern Betas bears this out. Particularly in the more crowded areas of the Web 2.0 zeitgeist, eg sites that enable you to ‘share everything’ (photos/videos/blogs/thoughts/creations/your very soul) or to ‘organize everything’. There are an awful lot of these. How will yours stand out?

THOU SHALT SUM UP WHAT THOU DOST IN ‘THE HOLY TRINITY’ OF THREE WORDS OR PHRASES

This is a particular Web 2.0 phenomenon that seems to be spreading like wildfire.

‘Live. Love. Learn.’ www.true.com

‘Ask. Find. Enlighten.’ www.blurtit.com

‘People. Sharing. Knowledge.’ www.yedda.com

I could go on, but you’ll be able to find plenty of these on your own.

And then, of course, there are the new commandments of online marketing/advertising:

THOU SHALT INTERPRET ‘VIRAL’ AS ‘MAKE A TV COMMERCIAL AND POST IT ONLINE’

This happens a lot. (To paraphrase the entertaining banner I saw carried in an anti-war demonstration at the last Republican convention in New York, which read, ‘Yee-ha! Is Not A Foreign Policy’, I’d articulate this as ‘YouTube is Not A Marketing Strategy.’)

THOU SHALT INTERPRET ‘INTERACTIVE’ AS ‘MAKE A TV COMMERCIAL, POST IT ONLINE AND PUT UP A WEBSITE.’

This happens a lot, too.

THOU SHALT DO SOMETHING — ANYTHING, IT REALLY DOESN’T MATTER WHAT AS LONG AS YOU’RE THERE IN SOME FORM OR OTHER – ON SECOND LIFE.

Often true of brands to whom one would quite like to say, ‘Get a First Life’.

The key thing however is, the more new commandments that form, the bigger the opportunity for those who break them. Nothing earth-shattering about that observation — here’s Seth Godin on the same theme: ‘Newcomers and underdogs can only benefit when the rules change. The safe thing to do feels risky, because it involves playing by a fundamentally different set of assumptions. But in fact, dramatically changing the game is the safest thing you can do if you want to grow.’ That’s the innovation cycle, just significantly speeded up in today’s Webosphere. Break the new commandments and stand out from the crowd; he that comes after you will break the ones your particular innovation establishes in turn. For the bravest, the most free-spirited, the most creative thinkers and, ultimately, the most successful players, commandments are always there to be broken.





Reader Comments.

No comments yet

Leave a Comment

Add a comment

Pages: « previous page 1 2

No Tags
Article Sponsor

More Features


  • Once Facebook goes public, what's the most important thing it'll need to do in order to live up the expectations of its real value?

    View Results

    Loading ... Loading ...

Latest News

News Archive

Spotlight

Sponsormob Leads the Way Into RTB for MobileADOTAS – For more than half a decade, Berlin-based tech firm Sponsormob has remained relevant in an industry characterized by [...] more...

Adotas Partnership